Field of Science

Heat wave pushes north, way north

According to weather reports from around the world it was bloody hot in many places.  OK, when isn't it hot and muggy in Bangkok?  Usually it's hot and muggy this time of year around here, but of late the weather has been quite reasonable.  Europe is having some hot weather as some of my fellow bloggers mention, and the 90+ F highs are reaching to northern Germany.  But here's a weather report for you; the high temperature yesterday in Croker River was 84 F.  Now that seems reasonable, hot but not terribly hot.  Laredo TX was 108 F, and they would gladly take an 84 degree high.  However this is news because of where Croker River is located, western most Nunavut, Canada, about where the orange circle is located, and as you can see that's above the Arctic Circle.  The normal high temperature for these parts would be a sweltering mid-50 degrees.  This time of year it would rarely get above 65 F.  No wonder all that sea ice and tundra's permafrost are melting.  It's been a long time since it was this warm this far north, probably about 54 million years ago, when at the beginning of the Eocene warm temperate vegetation grew as far north as the Arctic Circle.  That's right magnolias at the Arctic Circle; see the current treeline (yellow) on the map?  And you can bet the climate deniers will have nunuvit.

1 comment:

JaneB said...

Groan. That is DEFINITELY a Dad-pun.