Freak heatwave pushes temperatures at North Pole above freezing
01 Jan '16 08:494 editshttp://phys.org/news/2015-12-freak-heatwave-temperatures-north-pole.html
"...Temperatures at the North Pole rose above freezing point Wednesday, 20 degrees Celsius above the mid-winter norm and the latest abnormality in a season of extreme weather events.
Canadian weather authorities blamed the temperature spike on the freak depression which has already brought record Christmas temperatures to North America and lashed Britain with winds and floods.
The deep low pressure area is currently looming over Iceland and churning up hurricane force 75-knot winds and 30-foot waves in the north Atlantic while dragging warm air northwards.
"It's a very violent and extremely powerful depression, so it's not surprising that hot temperatures have been pushed so far north," said Canadian government meteorologist Nathalie Hasell.
"This deep depression has pushed hot air as far as the North Pole, where temperatures are at least 20 degrees above normal, at around freezing point, between zero and two degrees," she said.
US scientists from the North Pole Environmental Observatory told AFP that the temperatures had climbed suddenly.
An Arctic monitoring point 180 miles (300 kilometers) from the Pole that had been recording minus 37 degrees on Monday had shot up to minus eight by Wednesday, said senior researcher James Morison.
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I certainly know about the floods in Britain; although my home hasn't been flooded, many homes lower down and within sight of my home have. I am lucky to live on the higher ground where the flood risk is virtually zero.
I know this isn't an option on flat country but I cannot help think that, wherever this is feasible within hilly country, we should stop building any more new homes on the low ground in favor of only building on the higher ground thus avoid the worse of the flood risk to our homes -and yet, even while I speak, I still see them building new homes exactly where the latest flooding has only just taken place! I think that is Crazy! Wouldn't it be far better to build those homes on the higher ground? There is no shortage of higher ground in the general area where I live.
"...Temperatures at the North Pole rose above freezing point Wednesday, 20 degrees Celsius above the mid-winter norm and the latest abnormality in a season of extreme weather events.
Canadian weather authorities blamed the temperature spike on the freak depression which has already brought record Christmas temperatures to North America and lashed Britain with winds and floods.
The deep low pressure area is currently looming over Iceland and churning up hurricane force 75-knot winds and 30-foot waves in the north Atlantic while dragging warm air northwards.
"It's a very violent and extremely powerful depression, so it's not surprising that hot temperatures have been pushed so far north," said Canadian government meteorologist Nathalie Hasell.
"This deep depression has pushed hot air as far as the North Pole, where temperatures are at least 20 degrees above normal, at around freezing point, between zero and two degrees," she said.
US scientists from the North Pole Environmental Observatory told AFP that the temperatures had climbed suddenly.
An Arctic monitoring point 180 miles (300 kilometers) from the Pole that had been recording minus 37 degrees on Monday had shot up to minus eight by Wednesday, said senior researcher James Morison.
...
..."
I certainly know about the floods in Britain; although my home hasn't been flooded, many homes lower down and within sight of my home have. I am lucky to live on the higher ground where the flood risk is virtually zero.
I know this isn't an option on flat country but I cannot help think that, wherever this is feasible within hilly country, we should stop building any more new homes on the low ground in favor of only building on the higher ground thus avoid the worse of the flood risk to our homes -and yet, even while I speak, I still see them building new homes exactly where the latest flooding has only just taken place! I think that is Crazy! Wouldn't it be far better to build those homes on the higher ground? There is no shortage of higher ground in the general area where I live.
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