"The snowmobile climbs fast alongside the cables of the ski lift. But the lift itself is not running. Suddenly, the driver and manager of the ski lift, Qulu Heilmann, stops and walks over to the bare rocks on the mountain outside Nuuk, the Greenlandic capital. You can see it there should be snow here. People should be skiing here, he said, pointing at the rocky slope close to the city's airport. He has worked here for 25 years. But this year, he experienced something unusual. The lift and slopes never opened. There simply has not been enough snow."
"The DMI said the average temperature in Nuuk in January was 0.1 degrees Celsius (32.2 degrees Fahrenheit), a new record. That is 7.8C (14F) warmer than the January normal for 1991-2020. The highest temperature in Nuuk this January was 11.3C (52.3F). A normal January day in Nuuk is often around minus 11C not plus 11C."
"Caroline Drost Jensen, a DMI climatologist, told Al Jazeera that while mild winter spells happen in Greenland, what stood out this year was the sheer number of records. I have to say, I was taken aback, she said. I have never seen so many records at once. It was really striking, very, very eye-catching."
Greenland's capital Nuuk and its west coast experienced unprecedented warmth in January, with temperatures reaching 7.8°C above normal averages. The ski lift in Nuuk remained closed for the entire season due to lack of snow, an occurrence the 25-year manager had never witnessed. The Danish Meteorological Institute recorded Nuuk's average January temperature at 0.1°C, with a peak of 11.3°C, compared to the normal minus 11°C. Multiple towns across 2,000km of the west coast posted unusually high monthly averages. A climatologist noted the striking aspect was the unprecedented number of simultaneous temperature records. A jet stream directing mild air northward served as the immediate cause, while human-driven climate change created a warmer baseline amplifying these temperature increases.
#climate-change #greenland-temperature-records #arctic-warming #winter-weather-anomalies #environmental-impact
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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