--- description: The continent likely hit 63.5 degrees F thanks to global warming title: Antarctica May Have Just Set a Record for Its Hottest Day Ever image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt672e4ed7ee1fa545/698785a90b72e328066de65a/antarctica.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Science](/section/science/) ## Science Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [climate change](/tag/climate-change/) ## climate change Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Antarctica May Have Just Set a Record for Its Hottest Day Ever ## Video: Waking the Dead: Bringing Extinct Species Back to Life [Watch (HLS stream): Waking the Dead: Bringing Extinct Species Back to Life](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/7mURxfr4.m3u8) (4:03)  _Published 2014-03-12. Conservationists and scientists have a saying, "extinction is forever." But soon biologists will clone long-gone animals in the hope to redefine that axiom to "DE-extinction is forever."_  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent Mar 28, 2015 3:25 PM CUT  Emperor penguins on an ice edge in Antarctica. Emperor penguins on an ice edge in Antarctica.Getty Images  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent Mar 28, 2015 3:25 PM CUT You may want to consider balmy Antarctica for your next Spring Break. Weather bloggers at [Weather Underground](http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=2944 "undefined") report that the continent likely hit a record-breaking high of 63.5 F (17.5 C) on Tuesday. Antarctica has been heating up in recent years, thanks to global warming. The region’s temperature has risen an average of about 5 F (2.8 C) in the last half century, according to the British Antarctic Survey. Studies have [also documented](http://time.com/3761064/antarctic-ice-shelves-thinning-climate-change/ "undefined") melting ice along Antarctica’s coasts. Tuesday’s record is all the more impressive considering that it was set just one day after Antarctica had reached a new high of 63.3 F (17.4 C) on Monday. Prior to those two record-setting days, the hottest the continent had ever gotten was 62.8 F (17.1 C) on April 24, 1961. But the record is not yet official. The reading was logged on the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, which may not be considered part of the continent in weather record keeping. The World Meteorological Organization is expected to examine whether the area was indeed in Antarctica or whether it is technically located in Argentina. **Read Next:** [The Antarctic’s Floating Ice Shelves Are Melting At an Alarming Rate](http://time.com/3761064/antarctic-ice-shelves-thinning-climate-change/ "undefined") \[[_Weather Underground_](http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=2944 "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3762354/antarctica-temperature-high/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3762354/antarctica-temperature-high/"},"headline":"Antarctica May Have Just Set a Record for Its Hottest Day Ever","datePublished":"2015-03-28T15:25:50.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T05:31:10.236Z","description":"The continent appears to have hit 63.5 F for the first time thanks to global warming","url":"https://time.com/3762354/antarctica-temperature-high/","keywords":["climate change","Environment","global warming","antarctica"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt672e4ed7ee1fa545/698785a90b72e328066de65a/antarctica.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt672e4ed7ee1fa545/698785a90b72e328066de65a/antarctica.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Antarctica","caption":"Antarctica","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/climate-change/","name":"climate change"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3762354/antarctica-temperature-high/","name":"Antarctica May Have Just Set a Record for Its Hottest Day Ever"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Waking the Dead: Bringing Extinct Species Back to Life","description":"Conservationists and scientists have a saying, \"extinction is forever.\" But soon biologists will clone long-gone animals in the hope to redefine that axiom to \"DE-extinction is forever.\"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/7mURxfr4/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-03-12T14:27:23.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/7mURxfr4.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3762354/antarctica-temperature-high/","duration":"PT4M3S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3762354/antarctica-temperature-high/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```