In June 2020, despite being within the Arctic Circle, Verkhoyansk hit a temperature of . In Russia's two easternmost districts, 18,591 distinct fires have consumed .
In September 2020 scientists warned that an "international effort is needed to manage a changing fire regime in the vulnerable Arctic", reporting that satellite data shows how the Arctic fire regime is changing. On 3 September EU institutions reported that, according to satellite data, the Arctic fires already far surpassed the total of CO<sub>2</sub> emissions for the 2019 season.