Recently, as recent as this past Thursday, the United Nations recorded a new record high temperature for Antarctica of 18.3 degrees Celsius (64.9 degrees Fahrenheit).
The United Nations’ World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reported that they reached the record heat at Argentina’s Esperanza research station on the Antarctic Peninsula on February 6, 2020.
“Verification of this maximum temperature record is important because it helps us to build a picture of the weather and climate in one of Earth’s final frontiers,” WMO secretary-general Petteri Taalas
The temperature of the Antarctic Peninsula has risen almost three degrees Celsius over the last 50 years. The average annual temperature in Antarctica ranges from negative 10 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit) on the coast to negative 60 degrees Celsius (negative 76 degrees Fahrenheit) at the highest parts of the continent’s interior.
“This new record shows once again that climate change requires urgent measures,” said Celeste Saulo, WMO’s first vice president and the head of Argentina’s national weather service.
