File:Fire and Smoke in Russia's Far East (MODIS).jpg

English: The 2023 fire season in Russia started early and ferociously, with wildfires erupting in early April as snow receded and green-up began. By early June, a record-breaking heat wave gripped Siberia, sending temperatures soaring to 37.9˚C (100.2˚F) in Jalturovosk. Two other Siberian towns, Alexandrovskoe and Laryak also set all-time highs on that date, recording temperatures of 36.1˚C (97˚F) and 34.9˚C (95˚F) respectively. The heatwave helped dry out vegetation and spurred wildfire growth across Siberia.

Near the end of June, storms with little rain but copious lightning passed over Siberia, igniting multiple wildfires that quickly expanded in the dry vegetation. On July 3, the head of the Republic of Sakha wrote on the wrote on the Telegram messaging app that more than 110 forest fires were raging across about 61,000 hectares, roughly three-quarters the size of New York City. On that same day, government officials in the Russian Far East declared a state of emergency due to the spreading wildfires.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite passed over a portion of Siberia on July 2 and acquired a true-color image of many dozens of fires burning in the forests of the smoke-covered region. Each red “hot spot” marks actively burning fire. These fires are burning in the Republic of Sakha (also known as Yakutia), which is the largest republic of Russia and covers about half of the Russian Far East. While the view from Aqua is extensive, this image only shows part of the fires burning in Russia’s Far East on that date. Additional fires extended well eastward into Magadan Oblast and Kamchatka Krai.