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[Ovid]

The sun has not risen above the North Pole since mid-September. The sea ice—flat, landlike, windswept, and stretching as far as the eye can see—has been bathed in darkness for months.

But later this week, something extraordinary will happen: Air temperatures at the Earth’s most northernly region, in the middle of winter, will rise above freezing for only the second time on record.

On Wednesday, the same storm system that last week spun up deadly tornadoes in the American southeast will burst into the far north, centering over Iceland. It will bring strong winds and pressure as low as is typically seen during hurricanes.

That low pressure will suck air out of the planet’s middle latitudes and send it rushing to the Arctic. And so on Wednesday, the North Pole will likely see temperatures of about 35 degrees Fahrenheit, or 2 degrees Celsius. That’s 50 degrees hotter than average: It’s usually 20 degrees Fahrenheit below zero there at this time of year.

While institutional science will take years, if not decades, to confirm a correlation between human-forced climate change and strong North Atlantic storms, Scribbler believes that Wednesday’s insane warmth at the pole resembles the southern incursions of the “polar vortex” that have been seen in recent winters. These changes are related to human-forced climate change, he writes: a sign that something in the atmosphere has gone “dreadfully wrong.”

theatlantic.com

This is scary stuff.

 

[Anoregon]

Polar bears are so fucking done

 

[Syriel]

New Jersey gettin' some new oceanfront property.

 

[demon]

But I was promised by a man with a snowball in congress that this wouldn't happen.

 

[Himynameischris]

So heartbreaking...

 

[The Lamonster]

But I was promised by a man with a snowball in congress that this wouldn't happen.

People will blame this shit on God before manmade climate change.

 

[Hasphat'sAnts]

Concerned baby seal is concerned.

 

[internetwolf]

save the cute animals!

 

[Ovid]

New Jersey gettin' some new oceanfront property.

So of you guys already got it with Sandy.

 

[Clydefrog]

"We didn't listen!" but for real...

 

[Wilsongt]

Certain species on earth had a good run. Earth will bounce back after mass extinction events; humans are the fragile ones.

 

[Kifimbo]

Now I'm not an expert or anything, but I've been living in Canada for a decent period of time, and it takes a lot more than one day above 0 Celsius to unfreeze anything that has been frozen for months. So the title of that article is silly. Article itself is mostly fine.

 

[ezrarh]

That's why I moved to Denver.

 

[Plywood]

We had a good run. Whose turn is it now?

 

[Wilsongt]

We had a good run. Whose turn is it now?

Cockroaches. Always.

 

[Lambtron]

People will blame this shit on God before manmade climate change.

It's not God's fault. It's man's. We didn't do good by God, and we are being punished.

Spoiler

That there's a debate over accepting that this is happening to do something about it is fucking embarrassing.

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

Now I'm not an expert or anything, but I've been living in Canada for a decent period of time, and it takes a lot more than one day above 0 Celsius to unfreeze anything that has been frozen for months. So the title of that article is silly. Article itself is mostly fine.

That's not the point.

 

[OgTheClever]

Now I'm not an expert or anything, but I've been living in Canada for a decent period of time, and it takes a lot more than one day above 0 Celsius to unfreeze anything that has been frozen for months. So the title of that article is silly. Article itself is mostly fine.

I think the title is to mainly stress the point of how rare and insane it is for the North Pole to experience temperatures so high for this time of year. (maybe a bit of clickbait as well)

 

[Future PhaZe]

that's some damn good prose

 

[Denton]

I must say I am not super excited about experiencing the end of the world in my lifetime. Just not my thing.

 

[darthbob]

that's some damn good prose

DeeJ take notes.

 

[Cow Mengde]

The fact that Christmas was as warm as July 4th in New York should have been a sign.

 

[You Are Viewtiful]

I want to know if this is because of El Nino or global warming, or (most likely) a combination of the two. I'm already getting tired of all the people describing this warm December weather as "global warming". And then when January comes and we freeze our asses off all the conservative trolls will say "ha! and they thought global warming was real lolololol". Shit is getting so predictable.

edit: read the article and is indeed a combination of the two, but it doesn't look like scientists expected it to get this hot despite El Nino.

 

[Kevinroc]

And the people who championed the policies that got us into this mess still won't realize their role in all this.

 

[Tenebrous]

Polar bears are so fucking done

My favourite animals... Sad stuff.

 

[Pastry]

At work so can't read he full article but when was he last time the temperature was above freezing? It said it was the second time.

 

[psylah]

At work so can't read he full article but when was he last time the temperature was above freezing? It said it was the second time.

When the Earth's crust cooled.

 

[casinoman921]

Polar bears are so fucking done

They'll evolve into the more powerful solar bears.

 

[MrBigBoy]

I want to know if this is because of El Nino or global warming, or (most likely) a combination of the two. I'm already getting tired of all the people describing this warm December weather as "global warming". And then when January comes and we freeze our asses off all the conservative trolls will say "ha! and they thought global warming was real lolololol". Shit is getting so predictable.

We get those strong winters because of global warming. Earth always wants to 'repair' itself. Frame it like this:

Nature: "Let's have a warm December, lots of storms and floods."
Earth: "Bitch, that's not how this is supposed to be. I'll force extreme winter conditions in January on all of you."

At least, that would be the case if nature and Earth could talk.

Spoiler

I'm not drunk.

 

[Madness]

Polar bears are so fucking done

At least they aren't getting butchered like the rest of the major apex predators around the globe. Elephants getting their tusks ripped out and legs made into footstools, sharks finned and thrown back to drown so people can eat soup, alligators being turned into purses and boots, Tigers killed and their bones being made into balm etc.

Just crazy, watch as the Arctic becomes the next flashpoint between Canada, US, Russia, Denmark and others laying claims and right of passage due to th economic interest.

 

[You Are Viewtiful]

We get those strong winters because of global warming. Earth always wants to 'repair' itself. Frame it like this:

Nature: "Let's have a warm December, lots of storms and floods."
Earth: "Bitch, that's not how this is supposed to be. I'll force extreme winter conditions in January on all of you."

At least, that would be the case if nature and Earth could talk.

Spoiler

I'm not drunk.

Haha, I don't think that's how it goes, but you're right. The warm global temperatures spreads the Arctic weather southward (hence "polar vortex"), or something along those lines.

 

[psylah]

At least they aren't getting butchered like the rest of the major apex predators around the globe. Elephants getting their tusks ripped out and legs made into footstools, sharks finned and thrown back to drown so people can eat soup, alligators being turned into purses and boots, Tigers killed and their bones being made into balm etc.

Just crazy, watch as the Arctic becomes the next flashpoint between Canada, US, Russia, Denmark and others laying claims and right of passage due to th economic interest.

You're missing the point of all our global warming. We melt the poles, the polar pears drown, and then a bountiful harvest of polar bear corpses wash up on the new shorelines for the harvesting of their pelts.

Sure it's not the most practical way, but that first harvest sure will be efficient.

 

[Kinitari]

That's not the point.

But with the title, you might see how someone could get confused.

 

[NihonTiger90]

They'll evolve into the more powerful solar bears.

Central Florida is ready.

But in all seriousness, this is awful. El Nino is playing a part in things but it's clearly not the only factor. The warming of the Earth is going to make scenarios like this more common and that is troubling.

 

[Dr.Acula]

In order for this huge, hot storm to reach Iceland on Wednesday, it’s punching right through the Jet Stream, the atmospheric “river” that brings temperate weather to Europe. Yet El Niño should typically reinforce this current, explains the climate writer Robert Scribbler—for the Jet Stream to weaken is a sign that something else is going on.

Scary.

 

[commedieu]

welp.

 

[Par Score]

Certain species on earth had a good run. Earth will bounce back after mass extinction events; humans are the fragile ones.

Eh, humans can probably adapt to a point well beyond most other species, we're probably one of the most robust animals on the planet, in aggregate.

Climate change is going to cause a hell of a lot of extinctions though, for sure. We can just add them to humanity's running total.

We get those strong winters because of global warming. Earth always wants to 'repair' itself. Frame it like this:

Nature: "Let's have a warm December, lots of storms and floods."
Earth: "Bitch, that's not how this is supposed to be. I'll force extreme winter conditions in January on all of you."

At least, that would be the case if nature and Earth could talk.

Spoiler

I'm not drunk.

That is... categorically not how this works. In some ways it's hilarious you think it is, but in others it's tremendously scary how uneducated people are about something so crucial to life on our planet.

 

[jmdajr]

This thread is flying!

Sad, but we just feel so god damn powerless. And we're not.

 

[Velcro Fly]

We are wrecking the earth and I wish with all my heart that the ones denying this and working against progress to help fix this would be alive when the tipping point occurs and we finally destroy this planet.

 

[Tal Shiar Agent]

Seems like John Cabot was a few hundred years early.

 

[LoveCake]

It is moving up as you can see here (I hope the link works correctly)

http://earth.nullschool.net/#curren...hographic=-30.29,51.45,512/loc=-26.753,48.536 click on the earth = symbol on the bottom left of the screen to open the menu & controls.

Read the http://earth.nullschool.net/about.html to learn how to use that site.

That site is:
"a visualization of global weather conditions
forecast by supercomputers
updated every three hours"

 

[jmdajr]

We are wrecking the earth and I wish with all my heart that the ones denying this and working against progress to help fix this would be alive when the tipping point occurs and we finally destroy this planet.

The planet will be fine..

the people though.

 

[Ovid]

It is moving up as you can see here (I hope the link works correctly)

http://earth.nullschool.net/#curren...hographic=-30.29,51.45,512/loc=-26.753,48.536 click on the earth = symbol on the bottom left of the screen to open the menu & controls.

Read the http://earth.nullschool.net/about.html to learn how to use that site.

That site is:
"a visualization of global weather conditions
forecast by supercomputers
updated every three hours"

That's amazing!

 

[MrBigBoy]

That is... categorically not how this works. In some ways it's hilarious you think it is, but in others it's tremendously scary how uneducated people are about something so crucial to life on our planet.

Oops, forgot tot put /jk in the spoiler

Spoiler

I am actually drunk

Will read thread tomorrow when sober.

 

[Seventy_X_Seven]

Am I missing it or is the article not telling us when the other occurrence on record is? Just curious is all.

 

[ehretreue.m.h]

I was talking about global warming with my dad yesterday while were headed to Billings, and his theory is global warming is anthropagenic because of what he calls "heat islands," areas of development that absorb heat at a greater magnitude than undeveloped areas, and the heat reaches an equilibrium point because of thermodynamics, thus raising the temperature of the whole atmosphere.

I'm still in favor of greenhouse gases, but I don't really know where to turn for literature about it.

 

[NOLA_Gaffer]

Earth will bounce back from this is a few million years. The human race, or the majority of it, will not.

 

[RatchetWhiteGirls]

And the people who championed the policies that got us into this mess still won't realize their role in all this.

Who and what are these policies?

 

[PrivateWHudson]

Am I missing it or is the article not telling us when the other occurrence on record is? Just curious is all.

I was about to ask the same question. When was the other occurrence? Was there an extreme January to compensate? How did everything turn out after that?

 

[John Kowalski]

I'm already building a Polar Bear refuge. Do you think they'd like the mediterranean?