Antarctica hottest day ever recorded: 63.5 degrees for coldest place on Earth?

Antarctica hottest day

By Roz Zurko

Antarctica may have had its hottest day on record yet, with the thermometer rising to 63.5 degrees Fahrenheit. As soon as the verification from the World Meteorological Organization comes back it will be official. This is the fall season in Antarctica, not the summer, so to have the warmest day ever recorded happen at this time of year is somewhat odd. It's not the warmest season of the year for the Antarctica.

According to DB Techno on March 31, the Antarctica is considered the coldest and windiest place on Earth. The world’s most southern continent is not a place that is used to seeing a temperature of 63.5 degrees. It’s been over 50 years since the readings have come close to this recent warm temp.

The 63.5 (17.5) degrees was registered on March 24, at the northern most tip of the Antarctica Peninsula. What the World Meteorological Organization is verifying is the location where this temperature was registered. Was this location within Antarctica or is it technically located in Argentina? This is the question that needs to be answered before it becomes official.

According to Cubiclane today, this highest temperature was recorded by a research station run by Argentina and it is located on the northern most tip of the Antarctica Peninsula. It is called Base Esperanza.

This report of such a warm temperature comes on the heels of a study published during the same week stating that the Antarctica ice sheet is melting at an accelerated rate. The Weather Network reported that if this record temperature is indeed confirmed, this would serve as an “ominous milestone for the Earth’s most desolate continent.”

This possible record temperature report wouldn’t be complete without some mention of global warming, which is what some people believe is happening. Some researchers suggest that Antarctica’s ice shelves have thinned by 18 percent in the past 20 years.

According to DB Techno researchers say: “The ice shelf shrinkage is indirectly linked to rising sea levels, and current volume reduction rates have scientists projecting that half the volume of ice shelves in western Antarctica may be lost in 200 years.”