Unknowncountry’s Climate Watch section has been updated for winter 2017/2018. It discusses the extreme heat in the Southern Hemisphere and the extreme cold in the Northern Hemisphere, and explains why this is happening. It points out that Winter Storm Dylan that struck the US east coast in December was structurally a precursor storm to a much larger superstorm, which could develop in that area in the future.
The hottest November ever recorded in the arctic by far took place in 2016. The result of this is that the cold air that normally hangs over the high arctic has been pushed down into the northern half of the northern hemisphere, creating what is known as the polar vortex and with it the illusion that global warming, which is causing the phenomenon, isn’t happening at all.
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A new study has discovered what is behind a new phenomenon that is being seen on the Greenland ice sheet in recent years, due to it’s accelerated melting: the formation of large rivers of fresh meltwater flowing on the ice sheet’s surface.
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Keeping in step with the record-breaking high temperatures that were experienced over the holidays, and over 2015 for that matter, the North Pole also saw unseasonably warm weather — with one projection showing the temperature going above freezing for six hours.
The same warming trend in Atlantic and Pacific waters that contributed to massive storm systems across eastern regions of North America and in northern Europe also pushed temperatures at the North Pole to the freezing mark, with Environment Canada reporting that an ocean buoy near the pole registered a temperature of 0ºC (32ºF) on Dec. 30. Seattle, a city with mild winter temperatures, was actually colder on the same day, at -1ºC (30ºF).
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