Alaska Bakes in the Hot Sun


Alaska is baking.  I've talked about this before, that the Arctic (and not the Antarctic) responded the most sensitively in the last global warming event, the PETM.  And it's happening again.



Alaska reached temperatures in the 80s, with Deadhorse reaching a record-high temperature of 85 degrees on Wednesday evening. Other cities including Bettles and Eagle reached 85, Fort Yukon hit 84, and Nenana reported 87.
“A pulse of warm air invaded the North Slope of northern Alaska on Wednesday, bringing some of the warmest air ever recorded there,” meteorologist Jeff Masters explained on his blog, Weather Underground. “Even with the 24-hour sunlight it receives during most of July, the North Slope typically experiences highs only in the 50s and lows in the 30s.”
Fairbanks also officially reported 87, but one record showed Fairbanks’ airport reaching 96 degrees Wednesday. Meanwhile hundreds of miles south in Orlando, Fl., temperatures reached 94 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. Miami and Daytona Beach only rose to 92 on Wednesday.
Temperatures in Fairbanks could reach 90 degrees on Thursday or Friday, National Weather Service meteorologist Rick Thoman reported to the Alaska Dispatch News. 
Meanwhile, in the Arctic, sea ice volume is at a record low for the time of year according to PIOMAS. pic.twitter.com/ig2X5MXcCg

Greenland also set records in April. Temperatures reached as high as 64 degrees, but even weather stations on the actual ice sheet saw temperatures at 37.6 degrees. If Greenland's land-locked ice melts, it alone could raise sea levels by 20 feet.
I've posted about Greenland before.  It appears that no matter what we do to ameliorate the warming of our planet, goodbye Miami, goodbye New Orleans.

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