WHY: It's Colder In Boston Right Now Than It Is In Antarctica

 Here's a story that shows how the climate has changed and continues to change. This was from Dec. 13...

It's Colder In Boston Right Now Than It Is In Antarctica 

Boston's North End  Credit Getty images

Dec. 13, Forbes.com; Trevor Nace

 

It's hard to believe but temperatures in Boston and across New England are colder right now than in Antarctica. Yet, that's not the whole story.

Current temperatures as of 11:09 a.m. EST in Boston, MA are 28° F, compare this to the current temperature in Belgrano II Base, Antarctica where the current temperature is 40° F.  
How can it be that a location 8,448 miles south of Boston, MA is warmer in temperature? It could be a daily coincidence, but to find out its best to look at historical climate data and see how that fits into December 2018 temperatures.

 A surprising part of the story lies in the temperature compared to historical temperatures. Both Boston and Belgrano II Base are experiencing warmer than historically average temperatures thus far in December.

Boston, MA
High Today	28° F
Average Recorded High For Dec 2018	43° F
Average Historical High For Dec	41° F
Belgrano II Base, Antarctica
High Today	40° F
Average Recorded High For Dec 2018	34.5° F
Average Historical High For Dec	32.7° F

The table above represents how today's high compares to the historical average for the month of December and how this month's high temperatures in average compare to historical records.
Boston has recorded warmer than average temperatures, fitting into the historical temperature measurements show warming in Boston, which is especially pronounced in the past few decades.

 

WHAT DOES THE CHANGING CLIMATE MEAN? Measured warming over the past century plus has indicated that the high latitudes will warm faster than low latitudes.

 

Let's compare this to the global picture of how historical temperatures have changed over time. This is something NASA regularly tracks via an array of local temperature measurements, including 6,300 weather stations, ocean and sea surface temperature measurements, and Antarctic research stations.

 

 

IMAGE CAPTION:  Earth’s average global temperature from 2013 to 2017, as compared to a baseline average from 1951 to 1980.NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio.

As noted in NASA's report on average 2017 temperatures, warming trends continued and disproportionately so in the high latitudes. Measured warming over the past century plus has indicated that the high latitudes will warm faster than low latitudes.

It is easy to get caught up in the daily fluctuations of weather and temperature. While the high temperatures in Boston today are much colder than the monthly average and temperatures in Belgrano II Base are much warmer than the monthly average, this disguises the overall trends in temperatures over the past several decades.

This is another example of where weather and climate are important to separate and know where one stops and the other begins.

As fellow Forbes contributor Dr. Marshall Shepherd puts it "weather is your mood and climate is your personality."
 
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I am a geologist passionate about sharing Earth's intricacies with you. I received my PhD from Duke University where I studied the geology and climate of the Amazon. I am the founder of Science Trends, a leading source of science news and analysis on everything from climate ...
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Trevor Nace is a PhD geologist, founder of Science Trends, Forbes contributor, and explorer. Follow his journey @trevornace.