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South Pole has coldest winter ever, but it's just "a blip"
• https://joannenova.com.auRemember when Polar Amplification meant Antarctica was melting?
Thanks to NoTricksZone
South Pole Sees Record Cold Winter, Smashing 1976 Record …"Chill Was Exceptional"
Jason Samenow and Kasha Patel, Washington Post
The chill was exceptional, even for the coldest location on the planet.
The average temperature at the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station between April and September, a frigid minus-78 degrees (minus-61 Celsius), was the coldest on record, dating back to 1957. This was 4.5 degrees lower than the most recent 30-year average at this remote station, which is operated by United States Antarctic Program and administered by the National Science Foundation.
One hot weekend in Miami is Climate change but the coldest six months in Antarctic records is a blip:
While impressive and unexpected, scientists characterized this record as a mere blip and curiosity as both Antarctica and the planet continue to rapidly warm amid escalating extreme weather.
Antarctica has been cooling for a thousand years (or maybe 2,000). That's a long blip.
Climate change has been making Antarctic summers cooler too. Blips are everywhere.
And the ocean around Antarctica is cooler too:
The extreme cold over Antarctica helped push sea ice levels surrounding the continent to their fifth-highest level on record in August, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center.
As usual, scientists didn't predict the record cold — but they knew why it happened:
"Basically, the winds in the polar stratosphere have been stronger than normal, which is associated with shifting the jet stream toward the pole," Amy Butler, an atmospheric scientist at NOAA, wrote in a message. "This keeps the cold air locked up over much of Antarctica."