this post was submitted on 06 Oct 2023
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I wanted to learn more so i went looking for an article. Heres a pretty good write up. https://www.sciencealert.com/flowers-are-spreading-in-antarctica-as-summer-temperatures-soar
TLDR: Lots of flowering plants, moss and algae spreading. In March, temperatures near the south pole reached 39 °C above normal for three days in a row, hitting a peak of -10 °C (14 °F). Warm enough for researchers to walk around in shorts and shirtless....In Antarctica. Yeah were fucked.
I find it hilarious that they're like "It's 14F! Break out the shorts and T-shirts!" Meanwhile anyone anywhere else (except the Arctic regions) is like "This is pretty fucking cold".
It likely feels warmer. Antarctica is almost entirely desert. The "dry heat" argument works for cold, too.
I've been outside in a t-shirt and jeans in northern Greenland (also polar desert) when it was below freezing and was completely comfortable. I could have hung around out there all day if the day wasn't four months long. I like the cold and I've got extra mass to keep me warm, though.
I suspect the sunshine bouncing off all the snow helps too
Maybe at the south pole. There's little to no snow around where I was in northern Greenland. It gets above freezing up there during the summer and it almost never snows, so what accumulation you do get is actually from snow being blown off the ice cap rather than down from the sky. So it takes a while to build back up in the winter.
Yeah I know what you mean. I'm from the North East US and it gets pretty damn humid here (somehow it's been more humid than places with a tropical climate like Miami, Florida), which extends into the winter. The high humidity, combined with low temperatures (0-35F, not including wind chill) and moderate winds means a damn cold winter.
I was out in Denver, Colorado a few years ago during the late fall, early winter. They had a freak snowstorm which dropped their temperature from like 65F to 25F over night. I didn't know what to bring so I brought all my winter gear. I got there and was like "This is nothing!" because the humidity was low. I was outside in jeans and a heavy/double lined hoodie and was fine. Normally in NYC I'd be wearing an Arctic level jacket due to the wind and humidity.
My buddy was in the army and stationed in Fairbanks, Alaska. After being there for a year he came home for Christmas and showed up at my house in shorts, sandals, and a hoodie. It was like 30F, he said it felt like summer to him 😂
Interesting. Can relate having spent most of my life on a southern coast. One summer my parents shipped me to my uncle in Denver for a few weeks. One day we dropped by an air show. It's summer and it's hot (mid 90s or so) but you can't feel it. People passing out was common enough it had an announcement.
Cut to later that day and we are up in the mountains and I'm walking through a snow bank with the same T-shirt and shorts from earlier, perfectly comfortable.
So yeah if it's dry you can wear about anything.. when it's humid nothing seems to work be it hot or cold. If we are gonna change the climate here are my notes: I'd like 65-68degF and let's say 45% RH. All day everyday. Make it so!
I've found out that I can tolerate humidity a lot more when it's actually hot vs it being cool and humid. When it's hot and humid you're sweating constantly but don't feel sticky because you're covered in sweat. If it's cool and humid you just feel sticky all over because you're not sweating, so everything just sticks together. I first noticed this when I went out to Denver and didn't feel gross waking up. I further reinforced it when I went down to Southern Florida this summer where it's stupid hot and humid outside, but inside it was cool and I woke up feeling fine, since everything down there is built for the heat and humidity.
Thule?
Yep.
I left not too long ago, it's gotten significantly warmer. Rained every week of summer. I think it hit 60 one day. The tow is closed because the permafrost underneath shifted and the building is cracking in half.
Oh, holy shit. They normally leave the foundation vents open on the buildings in the winter and close them in the spring to make sure the permafrost stays frozen.
One of my coworkers (who loves going to Thule) is a major climate change denier. Wonder how he'll spin that when we go back in a couple years.
"The tow" isn't ringing bells - what's that again?
The tow was (rip) the bar. That's wild, you can literally see the change happening in real time. If you guys do work on the radar regularly we've probably met haha, small world.
Ah, that's right. Damn, that's half the social scene there.
We work on the fuel farm. It's up for a major overhaul in a couple years.
This is Minnesota
I had hoped you just missed a decimal point but it seems you did not.
I've lived on the coast of Australia most of my life, but I moved a good couple of hundred kilometres inland last year. I'm really looking forward to having waterfront property again pretty soon.
Hell, it's already too hot for human habitation here most of the year. I might as well enjoy the view before I croak.
Damn researchers walking around in shirts at -10°C??
These are people who willingly choose to live in Antarctica for entire seasons or even years... Yes, I'm sure the overwintering crew would go out in shorts when it gets up to -10°C. I would lol.