Heat in Moscow and Central Russia

As 23 different regions declare states of emergency, the great drought of 2010 has far surpassed the definition of historic. With temperatures soaring as high as 40° in the shade, the heat wave is making headlines in Russia as it breaks one record after another.

Fires have cropped up around Moscow, which now sits in a haze of smoke from blazes in the surrounding bogs. In Yakutia, over 1,200 hectares of forest have gone up in smoke, and the Rostov region saw 700 hectares ravaged by a wind-whipped fire at the end of June. The country has also had to come to terms with the troubling possibility of tropical cyclones making their way into previously untouched areas such as central Russia.

The resulting wave of panic from the ministries, concerned by the economic fallout of this unusual meteorological phenomenon, is not likely to ease the minds of millions of Russians dripping in sweat from Moscow to Siberia and all points between.