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Antarctica: A place of ice, extremes - and mystery

Randy Mann | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 9 years AGO
by Randy Mann
| June 13, 2016 9:00 PM

Next Monday, June 20, summer officially begins here in the Inland Empire and across the rest of the Northern Hemisphere. Despite the recent cooldown, we’ve already had a good taste of summer as record high temperatures in the 90s were reported early last week. The hottest day at the Coeur d’Alene Airport was 97 degrees, a record, on June 6. At Cliff’s station, it was a sizzling 96 degrees, which was also a record for the date.

As the Northern Hemisphere begins its summer next week, the Southern Hemisphere will start its winter season. Our 23.5 degree tilt of the Earth’s axis helps to give us our seasons. At this time of year, our part of the world is tilted toward the sun, which makes for a higher sun angle. By contrast, the Southern Hemisphere is tilted away from the sun, making for a much lower sun angle. So, at this time of year, we typically get the warmth while they get the cold.

At the bottom of the world is Antarctica. It’s a region covered with ice and can experience tremendous weather extremes in a short period of time. While we were feeling the hot temperatures on June 5, a region in Antarctica reported a low temperature of minus 106.24 degrees Fahrenheit. That was an air temperature and it was still their fall season.

By contrast, on March 24, 2015, a reading of 63.5 degrees Fahrenheit was reported on Hope Bay, Trinity Peninsula, Antarctica, breaking an old record of 62.8 degrees in 1961. Just in case you were planning a trip to that part of the world, the average winter temperature near the South Pole is about minus 55 degrees Fahrenheit.

It’s so cold in Antarctica that, not surprisingly, it holds the record for the coldest temperature ever recorded. The frigid reading was at the Vostok Station on July 21, 1983, when an incredible minus 128.6 degree air temperature was reported. By the way, Coeur d’Alene’s coldest temperature in recorded history was minus 30 degrees.

Most of us have heard about the recent rise in global temperatures, especially over the last 12 months. Scientists say that many of the world’s glaciers have been shrinking, especially in the Arctic regions, which may be due, at least in part, to the warmer ocean waters. However, in Antarctica, a NASA study released late last year says that Antarctic ice has been increasing by as much as 135 billion tons a year since the early 1990s.

NASA scientists believe that the topography of Antarctica and the depth of the ocean surrounding this continent is influencing winds and ocean currents. Their study states that sea ice will form and build up early in the season and then get pushed offshore and northward by the prevailing winds. This process forms a protective shield of thicker and often older ice that will circulate around the continent, which likely prevents the melting of the ice across many parts of Antarctica.

Although Antarctic ice has been growing across much of the continent, the extreme western regions of the Antarctic Peninsula, the Thwaites and Pine Island, have been losing ice in recent years. This part of Antarctica, according to climate models, predicts further melting of West Antarctica that could lead to a large rise in sea levels. This continent of extremes continues to fascinate scientists and will obviously lead to more predictions. As Cliff and I have been saying for years, “Only time will tell.”

Next week, we’ll examine some evidence beneath the ice in Antarctica that may have influenced or perhaps begun one of the greatest mass extinctions in Earth’s history.

In terms of our local weather, we’re off to a fast start in terms of the number of 90-degree days for the 2016 season. Despite a spring season that reported average temperatures up to 5 to 8 degrees above normal, Cliff and I still believe that the upcoming summer will not be as hot or as dry as the summer of 2015.

We have been watching the latest sea-surface temperatures as well as that big ridge of high pressure that has brought very warm and dry conditions to much of the West. The high pressure system will be briefly moving over the central U.S. this week. That part of the country will be hotter than normal while we’ll see milder temperatures with occasional showers and thunderstorms.

As the ridge temporarily rebuilds over our area, we’ll once again warm up and dry out toward the end of the month before the high moves again to the east around the first week or two in July. This means we could see some more showers sometime around the Fourth of July holiday before things heat up again. Overall, our summer season should be more “normal” for 2016.

Contact Randy Mann at randy@longrangeweather.com

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Antarctica: A place of ice, extremes - and mystery
Coeur d'Alene Press | Updated 9 years ago
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