Antarctica Reports Warmest Day on Record With a Reading of 18.3C
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the U.N.’s authoritative voice on weather, climate and water, announced the Argentine Antarctica peninsula had its hottest day on record since readings began.
Thursday midday temperatures at the Argentine Esperanza research base, on the northern tip of the Antarctic peninsula, soared to 18.3 degrees Celsius (64.9 degrees Fahrenheit), the highest recorded temperature since 1961, when temperatures first started being kept. The previous record from March 24, 2015 stood at 17.5 degrees Celsius .
According to WMO weather and climate extremes expert, Randal Cerveny, the surge in temperature appears to be associated with a regional “foehn” over the area: rapid warming of air coming down a slope or mountain.
The Argentine research base Esperanza, on the northern tip of #Antarctic Peninsula, saw a new record temperature of 18.3°C today (old one 17.5°C on 24 March 2015), per @SMN_Argentina.
— WMO | OMM (@WMO) February 6, 2020
Details of previous record at https://t.co/19Un83mmHn#ClimateChange pic.twitter.com/ZKvzr765Am
The new record set shortly after the previous 2015 record of 17.5C, is a significant indication that warming in the Peninsula is happening quicker than the global average.
In the last 50 years, global warming has resulted in 87 percent of glaciers and ice sheets along the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula to retreat, driving up sea levels and endangering coastal populations.
The organization will now assign a committee from the Weather and Climate Extremes Archive to confirm whether this indeed is a new record for the Antarctic continent.
“Everything we have seen thus far indicates a likely legitimate record but we will, of course, begin a formal evaluation of the record once we have full data from SMN, (Argentina’s National Meteorological Service) and on the meteorological conditions surrounding the event,” stated Cerveny.
