Antarctica sets low temperature record of -135.8 degrees
" WASHINGTON Feeling chilly? Here's cold comfort: You could be in East Antarctica which new data says set a record for "soul-crushing" cold.
Try 135.8 degrees Fahrenheit below zero; that's 93.2 degrees below zero Celsius, which sounds only slightly toastier. Better yet, don't try it. That's so cold scientists say it hurts to breathe.
A new look at NASA satellite data revealed that Earth set a new record for coldest temperature recorded. It happened in August 2010 when it hit -135.8 degrees. Then on July 31 of this year, it came close again: -135.3 degrees.
The old record had been -128.6 degrees, which is -89.2 degrees Celsius.
Ice scientist Ted Scambos at the National Snow and Ice Data Center said the new record is "50 degrees colder than anything that has ever been seen in Alaska or Siberia or certainly North Dakota."
"It's more like you'd see on Mars on a nice summer day in the poles," Scambos said, from the American Geophysical Union scientific meeting in San Francisco Monday, where he announced the data. "I'm confident that these pockets are the coldest places on Earth."
However, it won't be in the Guinness Book of World Records because these were satellite measured, not from thermometers, Scambos said.
"Thank God, I don't know how exactly it feels," Scambos said. But he said scientists do routinely make naked 100 degree below zero dashes outside in the South Pole, so people can survive that temperature for about three minutes.
Most of the time researchers need to breathe through a snorkel that brings air into the coat through a sleeve and warms it up "so you don't inhale by accident" the cold air, Scambos said.
On Monday, the coldest U.S. temperature was a relatively balmy 27 degrees below zero Fahrenheit in Yellowstone, Wyo., said Jeff Masters, meteorology director of the private firm Weather Underground.
"If you want soul-crushing cold, you really have to go overseas," Scambos said in a phone interview. "It's just a whole other level of cold because on that cold plateau, conditions are perfect." "
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/12/10/antarctica-sets-low-temperature-record-1358-degrees/
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"Naked 100 degree below zero dashes outside in the South Pole" -- Why? lol...
Weather is one thing. Climate, another totally different thing. Any argument attempting to compare the two, in this instance, is a logical fallacy; Post hoc ergo propter hoc .
Just sayin....
Hahaha!
Yes! APax, I've continually made that point for the last several years in Climate discussions.
The article did have a statement at the end to that point that there are pockets of extreme weather conditions. And conversely, in my thoughts, to the opposing extremes when the conditions are right.
Exactly as I see it, too, Robert. They are just noting an extreme condition.
Agreed.
True, and if anyone knows how cold it is there....it would be a Fish. Oh wait, they probably don't stick around to be frozen to death.
I think you and I have both had more recent reports re the cycles. They are saying a cooling trend for the next twenty years or so, then another warming trend - with the long term direction being another Ice Age.
lol..
Naked and vodka... I thought they were supposed to be researching, not having fun.
haha, it did sound like that, didn't it!
It sounds like Scientists can teach us more than just the results of environmental studies.
#1 - Thank you Captain Obvious.
#2 - The source is faux so you know how this is going to work out.
Still, the story is interesting.
APax, this comment isn't meant as dissent towards your comment at all...I'm merely commenting as an added opinion:
For credibility, I see no difference [Fox] than for other sources...and 'talking heads' are not Reporters, so I do not look to those individuals for news, not even for 'opinion.'
Unfortunately, many citizens, seemingly, look at 'ratings' as a sign of credibility, which they are not. They are simply signatory of popularity - nothing more. (True of other areas in life as well - popularity doesn't correlate with 'truth.')
I trust Fox as much as I do the others for general reporting. All Journalists are going to be paid to 'slant,' but with reports such as this one, there is no implication of 'slant.' It is simply reporting satellite data, but includes personal statements from Scientists - and as noted at the end by one, this report does not provide evidence for Climate change... but, I don't see that as a political slant, but rather a statement of fact.
LOL... Yep, one thing always leads to another.
LoL, jwc... so that's how they make those.
BF, yeah... probably.
Why? Staying in a cabin in Ontario's north country it was necessary in freezing mid-winter to dash to the outhouse. Once you got there the decaying effluent kept the outhouse warm. Oh, sorry, guess you really didn't want to see that picture.
That would definitely seem to be an upside! Now, at -135.8, it did have me wondering if the "effluent" was strong enough from preventing icicles from immediately forming -- the visual I'm getting could be likened to a reverse Unicorn...sort of. :P
That's a pretty amazing experience, J4T. I can nearly feel the sharp prickling of those little ice crystals.
What a thought that is - icicles forming instantly. Have to break off most of it and deposit it in the hole and go indoors to melt the part sticking to.....well, you know what. You can't just pull it off or it would be somewhat like circumcision. I think that at -135.8 the stuff in the hole would freeze, so the outhouse would be bound to be cold. Better to use a pail in the house and wait till the weather gets warmer.
Sounds like a better idea to me, too.
The internal pride or thrill of doing something important, or being there when something that impresses us happens, is life-changing, I agree.
As a bit of an aside, studies are suggesting that PTSD from viewing a second-hand source can affect us the same as first-hand experience, which makes sense to me; yet, there's something about actually being there with all of the other empirical impacts that makes it a memory for me.
For example, heights bother me. I can watch a video of that perspective and actually get that feeling in my stomach that feels like I'm going to pass out, but I don't remember it. Yet, I do remember that experience from flying, driving, high bridges, on mountain roads and standing on the edge in places in canyon lands. So yes, the experiences we have can greatly impact us and our memories.