As climate experts sound the alarm over record temperatures in Russia’s Arctic, the Christmas season is unlikely to be much different than the preceding months.

According to Russian meteorological service Roshydromet, the extraordinary Arctic heat of November was followed by temperature records in a number of places across the Russian north on the first day of December.

According to the Russian state service, average temperatures along major parts of the Russian Arctic coast are now for a long period between 10-15 C above normal, and in November the deviation from normality in the region was set to 12 C.