North Pole Set to Unfreeze as Temperature Soars

Correction appended

Stormy weather in the North Atlantic is set to bring balmy weather to the world’s northernmost point.

Temperatures at the North Pole could hit 40 degrees, according to Discovery News, which would be about 50 degrees higher than average for this time of year. Storms over Iceland and Greenland, fairly common in winter, are pushing warmer air to the Arctic region.

Fluctuations in temperature are actually not uncommon in the Arctic region, Mashable reports, but a 50 to 60 degree shift would be very notable. There have reportedly only been three other times since 1948 that temperatures in the North Pole have hit or risen above freezing in December.

These high temperatures could impact sea ice formations that are already at historic lows in other seasons.

This article originally misidentified a temperature reading as belonging to the North Pole.