March 2, 2018

Europe colder than the North Pole

NY Times - Subfreezing temperatures have spread across much of Europe over the past week, stretching from Poland to Spain. Snow fell in Rome for the first time in six years. Britain issued a “red alert” warning. Norway recorded the lowest temperatures of the cold snap: minus 43 degrees Fahrenheit in the southeast part of the country on Thursday.

If Europe feels like the Arctic right now, the Arctic itself is balmy by comparison. The North Pole is above the freezing mark in the dead of winter; there are no direct measurements there, but merging satellite data with other temperature data shows that temperatures soared this week to 35 degrees Fahrenheit. That is 50 degrees Fahrenheit above normal, and 78 degrees warmer than in parts of Norway.

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