Temperatures surpassed 30 degrees Celsius across northern Scandinavia on Wednesday and many metrological stations hit new record high temperatures for June.

The thermometer in Saltdal, northern Norway, reached 31,6°C. Further inside the Arctic Circle, at 69 degrees north in Skibotn east of Tromsø, the temperature was 31,7°.

The Norwegian Meteorological Institute said the highest temperatures were seen in Tana and at Banak airport in Porsanger, both with 32,5°C.

Tromsø, on the coast of the relatively cool Norwegian Sea, saw a temperature of 29,9°C on Tuesday. That is a new record for June. Last record was in June 1974, when the temperature in Norway’s largest city above the Arctic Circle reached 29,5°C.

Rovaniemi had 30,1°C and is by Finnish Meteorological Institute expected to be over 31°C on Thursday. Temperatures over 30°C are also predicted for the coming weekend in the city that has the Arctic Circle and Santa Claus’ tourist trap a short 5 minutes drive to the north. Finland’s northernmost weather station, at Nuorgam in the municipality of Utsjoki, saw the air temperature reaching 31,7°C.

Russia’s Arctic capital Murmansk also set a new record for June with 30,2°C.

Records broke in other parts of Europe and Asia

Scorching temperatures have again also swept across other parts of Europe, with many locations in Italy among those setting June or all-time records for heat.

Temperatures surpassed 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 Celsius) across much of Italy this week. On Tuesday, downtown Rome hit its warmest temperature on record at 105 degrees Fahrenheit (40.8 Celsius), while several other cities set monthly records. Record-warm temperatures persisted overnight across a large chunk of Eastern Europe. The heat comes during one of the country’s worst droughts in decades and as authorities are rationing water.

A dip in the jet stream — an upper-level channel of air — has allowed intense heat to build farther northward than usual.

A powerful heat dome anchored over Eastern Europe is conspiring with low pressure over Western Europe to yank extreme heat off Africa and into the region. A zone of surface high pressure from Italy to northwestern Russia and Finland is squashing clouds, allowing the near-solstice sun to beat down in all its fury.

On the edge of the heat, severe weather struck the Netherlands and Germany.

One person died and 10 were injured as a twister tore through the coastal city of Zierikzee, to the southwest of Rotterdam, in the Netherlands. The tornado caused damage on par with a low-end twister in the United States. Although the Netherlands averages several tornadoes a year, this was the first to cause a death since 1992.