Temperature in Antarctica has dropped to -81.7C

Recently, Antarctica has been experiencing record-breaking temperatures. And now a meridional jet stream (caused by low solar activity) is beginning to send some of this freezing cold north to South America, Australia and New Zealand.

At the Fuji Dome station in Antarctica, about 2,400 kilometers from Scott Base, temperatures have dropped to -81.7 degrees Celsius, one of the lowest on record.

Professor John Cottle, New Zealand’s chief scientific advisor for Antarctica:

“At bases in central Antarctica, people are unlikely to be able to go outside, and if they do, they can’t expose their skin to avoid frostbite,” Cottle said.

“Under these conditions, frostbite will occur within seconds, similar to a ‘burn’ from liquid nitrogen.”

Temperature anomalies on the ice continent this week have held well below normal.

According to the University of Maine, today, June 17, Antarctic temperatures are -3.8C below the 1979-2000 baseline.

Last week, however, that deviation from normal was a staggering -8.6C:

The fact remains that Antarctica is home to 90 percent of the Earth’s freshwater.

If you still have concerns about sea level rise, you need to look here, as the pattern being observed is not alarming – Antarctic sea ice extent is increasing and actually exceeds the 1979-1990 average (NSIDC).

The last few weeks of record low temperatures have also intensified the increase (note the graph below).

South America has been experiencing something of a polar onslaught of late, as low solar activity continues to affect the jet streams, weakening their flows from a direct ZONAL flow to an undulating MERIDIONAL flow that moves some of this brutal Antarctic cold unusually far north.

Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay have been experiencing serious cold lately, and the cold is predicted to only get worse as the weekend approaches.

These deviations from normal will lead to record low temperatures as well as snowfall – especially in the highlands of Argentina and Chile, where winter will come early.

Today, June 17, the North and South Islands of New Zealand have also begun to see falling temperatures, and further falls are expected in the coming days.

Tomorrow in Christchurch and Dunedin, the maximum daytime temperature will not exceed 8 degrees Celsius.

New Zealand meteorologists are keeping a close eye on upcoming precipitation, which is expected to fall in the form of heavy snow up to 900 meters.

“Given the state of the soil at the moment, this could be a problem,” a Met Office spokesman said of the impending rain and snow.

He said the area most at risk is north of Christchurch, which was not as badly affected by last month’s flooding as the south of Christchurch.

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