Scientists have long warned that with the climate continuing to change we can expect extreme weather events to increase in frequency, and freak heatwaves hitting either end of the planet this week serve as a pertinent example. Temperatures have been recorded in both the Antarctic and Arctic that are so far beyond the norm, that one expert says they would have previously been thought impossible.
In January of 2020, scientists at the Casey Research Station in East Antarctica recorded the continent's first heatwave, logging temperatures of 9.2 °C (48.6 °F). In a new record for the month of March as the continent heads into winter, air temperatures last week hit a maximum of 5.6 °C (42 °F). The Italian-French Concordia research station on the Antarctic Plateau recorded temperatures of -12.2 °C (10 °F), the highest ever not just for March but any month of the year, as noted by Antarctica climatology researcher and journalist Stefano Di Battista on Twitter.
This is around 40 °C (72 °F) above the average for March, according to a group of researchers writing in The Conversation. They attribute the extreme temperatures to an intense high pressure system that carried warm air and moisture deep into Antarctica's interior, combined with an intense low pressure system in the east and cloud cover trapping heat over the plateau.
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