CLIMATE CHANGE ‘PARTLY TO BLAME’ FOR SWELTERING MOSCOW
Baku, August 10 (AZERTAC). Global climate change is partly to blame for the abnormally hot and dry weather in Moscow, cloaked in a haze of smoke from wildfires, say researchers.
The UK Met Office said there are likely to be more extreme high temperatures in the future.
Experts from the environmental group WWF Russia have also linked climate change and hot weather to raging wildfires around the Russian capital.
Meteorologists say severe conditions may linger for several more days.
The Moscow health department said earlier that the number of people dying daily in the city had reached about 700 - twice the usual number.
Jeff Knight, a climate variability scientist at the UK Met Office, attributed the situation in Moscow to a number of factors, among them greenhouse gas concentrations, which are steadily rising.
The recent El Nino, a climate pattern that occurs across the tropical Pacific Ocean and affects weather around the world, and local weather patterns in Russia may have also contributed to this summer`s abnormal conditions.
The head of the climate and energy programme at WWF Russia, Alexei Kokorin, said the abnormal temperatures soaring to up to 40C increased the likelihood of wildfires around the capital.
And though this summer in Moscow had proven harsh for people and animals alike, it was possible that temperatures would continue to rise over the years to come, he warned.
Temperatures have been record-high for weeks and smoke from wildfires has driven airborne pollutants levels to the worst ever recorded in the capital and the Moscow region.
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