North Pole will be warmer than Western Texas today

[Dakine10 5,452]

The north pole hasn't seen sunlight since September, but temperatures are set to rise above freezing today, possibly reaching 40F, which would be 50 degrees above norm and unprecedented this late in the arctic winter.

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2015/12/the_storm_that_caused_tornadoes_will_heat_the_north_pole.2.html

The Scariest Part of This Season’s Weird Weather Is Coming Soon

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Tornadoes, floods, and a heat wave at the North Pole.

By Eric Holthaus

(Continued from Page 1)

Taken together, the fires, floods, heat waves, tornadoes, and blizzards are surely strange, even unsettling—but the scariest weather of the year is still on the way.

As it departs North America this week, the storm will rapidly intensify over the northern reaches of the Gulf Stream and draw tremendous amounts of warm air northward from Spain and the Mediterranean Sea toward the Arctic. As the storm approaches Iceland, it will have strengthened to the equivalent of some of the strongest hurricanes ever recorded in terms of atmospheric pressure. Intensely high pressure over western Russia, perhaps boosted by melting sea ice, will aid in setting up the tropics-to-pole atmospheric superhighway.

Unlike other recent episodes of extreme weather around the planet, this storm is probably not related to El Niño, which has limited influence in Europe. The storm will be strengthening over the exact spot that North Atlantic temperatures have been cooling over recent years, an effect that scientists have linked to a slowdown of the basin’s circulation triggered in part by melting sea ice—the same scenario that was highly dramatized in the movie The Day After Tomorrow. This year, there’s been a notable increase in the sharp contrast between this cold patch and record warm ocean temperatures in the tropical Atlantic, an effect that leads to stronger ocean storms—like this one.

The remarkable storm will briefly boost temperatures in the Arctic basin to nearly 10 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than normal—and the North Pole itself will be pushed above the freezing point, with temperatures perhaps as warm as 40 degrees. That’s absolutely terrifying and incredibly rare. Keep in mind: It’s late December and dark 24 hours a day at the North Pole right now. The typical average high temperature this time of year at the North Pole is about minus 15 to minus 20 degrees. To create temperatures warm enough to melt ice to exist in the dead of winter—some 50 or 60 degrees warmer than normal—is unthinkable.

For some perspective, I contacted a team of climate scientists at the University of Washington who maintain a fleet of weather monitoring equipment near the North Pole. James Morison, the principal investigator of the North Pole Environmental Observatory, said he’s “never heard of” temperatures above freezing in the wintertime there. Looking closer at the weather data, it appears this event is in fact unprecedented during the time period from late December through late April.

On Wednesday, the North Pole will be warmer than Western Texas, Southern California, and parts of the Sahara.

A weather forecast for Wednesday morning shows a rare midwinter warm front over the North Pole, with temperatures a few degrees above freezing—about 50 or 60 degrees warmer than normal for late December.

GFS model courtesy of Levi Cowan

This, more than any other extreme weather event in a remarkable year for the climate, feels like something new. This midwinter melt at the North Pole is a preview of what’s to come later this century—in fact, the temperature anomalies match almost exactly with what is predicted. The long-feared worst-case climate change scenario, which, thankfully was made less likely by the Paris agreement earlier this month, projects an ice-free Arctic within decades. Storms like this week’s are exactly the type of events that do the dirty work of ushering in that world. In the meantime, we’re running on the knife’s edge as a civilization, dodging warning signs and hoping for a planetary miracle.

[jyaku 138]

Why are we debating climate change still?

Something is definitely happening no matter what we call it.

[Dashinka 25,908]

I don't think there is a big debate regarding climate change. The earth's climate has been changing since it was formed. The debate is really around what may be causing it, human factors, or natural factors. From the classes I have taken and the research I have conducted, I don't feel we have good models to predict anything out beyond 5 days with respect to the weather.

[Dakine10 5,452]

I don't think there is a big debate regarding climate change. The earth's climate has been changing since it was formed. The debate is really around what may be causing it, human factors, or natural factors. From the classes I have taken and the research I have conducted, I don't feel we have good models to predict anything out beyond 5 days with respect to the weather.

We may not be be able to predict next weeks weather, but we are likely getting a glimpse of the future right now.

One prediction they have been making since last year is that 2015 would be the warmest year on record. While there is still a day left, it looks like it's going to be about a 0.15 degree increase over the previous record, which was 2014. That's a significant jump for one year.

[smilesammich 10,727]

pretty depressing.

[Dashinka 25,908]

We may not be be able to predict next weeks weather, but we are likely getting a glimpse of the future right now.

One prediction they have been making since last year is that 2015 would be the warmest year on record. While there is still a day left, it looks like it's going to be about a 0.15 degree increase over the previous record, which was 2014. That's a significant jump for one year.

The NOAA global average temperature reporting is at best dubious. A 0.15 difference based on sporadic surface measurements is within the margin of error.

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/11/18/2015-a-year-of-record-exaggeration-not-temperatures/

http://www.climatedepot.com/2015/01/16/scientists-balk-at-hottest-year-claims-we-are-arguing-over-the-significance-of-hundredths-of-a-degree-the-pause-continues/

[Ban Hammer 14,297]

the good news is, santa now lives in western texas.

[Dakine10 5,452]

The NOAA global average temperature reporting is at best dubious. A 0.15 difference based on sporadic surface measurements is within the margin of error.

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/11/18/2015-a-year-of-record-exaggeration-not-temperatures/

http://www.climatedepot.com/2015/01/16/scientists-balk-at-hottest-year-claims-we-are-arguing-over-the-significance-of-hundredths-of-a-degree-the-pause-continues/

It is what it is. A single year can be sporadic. A drop in global surface temp in 2016 would make it sporadic. Temperature increases in one direction over several years is called a trend. A trend, by definition, is not sporadic.

[lostinblue 1,989]

Jet stream is pushing warm air north for a few days ... everyone is in panic mode

[Transborderwife 4,666]

the good news is, santa now lives in western texas.

Did he get a green card? The North Pole is technically either Canadian, Greenland(Ian?) or Danish

[eieio 1,594]

OMG! How big of a lunatic does one have to be to believe this nonsense in the article?

[smilesammich 10,727]

[eieio 1,594]

^^^^ see above^^^^

[smilesammich 10,727]

^^^^ see above^^^^

indeed.

[TBoneTX 47,549]

Wettest year on record in all of Texas. Even the ducks were wearing their overshoes.