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The Arctic is ‘freakishly warm’ while Britain freezes, climate scientists say

The temperature is nearly 40 degrees above normal in the Arctic (Getty)
The temperature is nearly 40 degrees above normal in the Arctic (Getty)

As Britain shivers in the grip of the ‘Beast from the East’, it’s easy to imagine that winter is gripping the whole world – but that’s not the case.

In the Arctic, it’s freakishly warm, with the hottest February temperatures recorded since 1958 – and temperatures reaching above zero despite little sunlight.

The land outpost Cape Morris Jessup stayed above freezing for 24 hours on 25 February.

‘This is an anomaly among anomalies. It is far enough outside the historical range that it is worrying – it is a suggestion that there are further surprises in store as we continue to poke the angry beast that is our climate,’ said Michael Mann, director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University.

‘The Arctic has always been regarded as a bellwether because of the vicious circle that amplify human-caused warming in that particular region. And it is sending out a clear warning.’

Freakish Warming Causes Arctic Temperatures to Rise Nearly 40 Degrees Above Normal
Freakish Warming Causes Arctic Temperatures to Rise Nearly 40 Degrees Above Normal

Temperatures stayed above zero for nine nights in the region last month – something that has never happened before.

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Ruth Mottram, a climate scientist at the Danish Meteorological Institute, told Mashable, ‘The warm event at is not record breaking in terms of the highest ever recorded temperature in February, but that event in 2011 was very short-lived compared to what we have seen this year,

‘I’m pretty surprised by quite how large the temperature anomaly is this year and how persistent.’