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Antarctica Reports Hottest Day on Record – Temperature Reached 18.3 Degrees Celsius

During the last half a century, warming has resulted in 87 percent of glaciers and ice sheets along the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula to retreat, pushing up sea levels and threatening coastal communities.

The U.N.’s authoritative voice on weather World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announced the Argentine Antarctica peninsula had its hottest day on record Thursday since readings began. 

Midday temperatures at the Esperanza research base on the northern tip of the peninsula reached 18.3 degrees Celsius (64.9 degrees Fahrenheit), the highest recorded temperature since 1961 when temperatures first started being reported. The previous high on March 24, 2015, reached 17.5C.

WMO weather and climate extremes expert, Randal Cerveny, stated the record temperature seems to be due to the rapid warming of air over the area, known as a “regional foehn.”


The new record set so soon after the previous 2015 is a crucial indication that warming in the Antarctic Peninsula is happening faster than the global rate.

During the last half a century, warming has resulted in 87 percent of glaciers and ice sheets along the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula to retreat, pushing up sea levels and threatening coastal communities.

The WMO will now assign a committee from the Weather and Climate Extremes Archive to confirm whether this indeed is a new record.

“Everything we have seen thus far indicates a likely legitimate record, but we will, of course, begin a formal evaluation of the record once we have full data from SMN (Argentina’s National Meteorological Service) and on the meteorological conditions surrounding the event,” stated Cerveny.

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