North Pole Temperature Surges in Middle of Winter

Though this is meant to be the coldest time of year for the region, the U.S. Global Forecast System model reported temperatures climbing as high as 35 degrees Fahrenheit, The Washington Post reported.

Based on several independent analyses, temperatures at the North Pole were “very close to freezing,” said Zack Labe, a climate scientist working on his PhD at the University of California at Irvine.

There's no direct measure of temperature at the North Pole, but that estimate would put the temperature at about 50 degrees above normal.

This is one of the hottest winters on record for the Arctic, according to the Daily Mail, and these unusual conditions are disrupting the Arctic polar jet stream, which carries winds across the planet from east to west and into the upper atmosphere.

However, warmer air in the region has put it off course and scientists now say the weather patterns could be directly linked man-made global warming.

According to the Cape Morris Jesup meteorological site at the northern extreme of Greenland, there has been 61 hours of temperatures above freezing recorded this year alone, The Telegraph reported.

“It’s never been this extreme,” said Ruth Mottram, a climate scientist at the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI), according to Reuters.

A study published last year found that Arctic winter warming events are becoming more frequent and lasting longer than they did three decades ago.

“These [winter warming] events are not unusual, but they are happening more frequently and with longer durations,” said Robert Graham, lead author of the study, adding that reduced ice cover and shifting weather patterns due to climate change may be causing the phenomenon.

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