Our weather ain’t got nothing on Moscow’s

Raleigh’s temperature is expected to reach 92 degrees Fahrenheit today, with a steady breeze moderating that a bit. While that’s warm, it’s a far cry from the weather Russia’s dealing with right now. Central Russia is experiencing an unprecedented heat wave, with temperatures up to 108 degrees. For a country more accustomed to extreme winters, this is a catastrophe. Wheat crops are withering, peat bog wildfires are raging, and people are dropping like flies because air conditioning is uncommon.

To make matters worse, the peat bog fires have made the air unhealthy in Moscow. So either Russians sweat it out indoors in buildings with no air conditioning, or they open the windows and breathe heavily-polluted air. Not much of a choice!

Temperatures as high as 42 degrees Celsius (108 degrees Fahrenheit) will continue to affect central Russia and along the Volga River, where the fires are concentrated, at least through Aug. 8, the state Hydrometeorological Center said on its website. Extreme fire danger is forecast for many regions, the center said.

Moscow’s city center was uncharacteristically empty today after people tried to escape the heat and the smoke by leaving town on Friday evening. The “unfavorable ecological situation” caused soccer matches scheduled for the weekend in Moscow and the surrounding region to be canceled, Russia’s Football Premier League said in a statement on its website.

I read that one remote village, Oymyakon in Eastern Siberia, commonly sees winter temperatures plunge to -90 F. Now it’s suffering from temperatures in the 90s … plus 90. It’s hard to imagine a 180-degree swing in temperatures between seasons.

Raleigh just chalked up its hottest June ever and Russia is broiling like never before. Russia produces 1/3 of the world’s wheat crop, which means this heat endangers the world’s food supply. Do you think that perhaps we should not be so quick to dismiss research on global warming?