The Arctic Is Outrageously 36 Degrees Hotter Than The Normal, Scientists Reveal

The scientists discovered that the temperature in the Arctic is hotter than the normal with 20 degrees Celsius (36 degrees Fahrenheit). This bothers the scientists as this period during the winter months, the temperatures fall and the sea ice thickens and grows. The temperature is higher than normal across the region.

Petteri Taalas, the Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), said that in parts of Arctic Russia, the temperatures were 10.8 to 12.6 degrees Fahrenheit above the long-term average. He further said that many other Arctic and sub-Arctic regions in Alaska, Russia and northwest Canada were at least 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit above average. He added that they used to gauging temperature records in fractions of a degree and described this recent increase as different.

Science Alert reports that this is the second year that the temperatures in the Arctic have been high. In December 2015, there was a massive warm winter storm that hit the Arctic and increased the melting point of the region.

Jennifer Francis, an Arctic specialist at Rutgers University, said that it is related to climate change around the rest of the planet as it was declared by WMO that 2016 will most likely be the hottest year on record. He further said that the Arctic warmth is the result of a combination of record low sea ice extent for this time of the year, probably very thin ice and plenty of warm/moist air from lower latitudes being driven northward by a very wavy jet stream.

Mark Serreze, head of the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado, explained that the sea ice is at a record low right now, for this time of year. He further explained that there is so much heat in the upper ocean in these ice-freeze areas, the ice just cannot form right now. He added that the oceans just got to get rid of this heat somehow and it is having a hard time doing so.

If this warming continues, many North Americans would not be spared from the extreme weather and the ice levels could be extraordinarily thin next year, according to PBS.