Antarctica Hit a Record High Temperature

Antarctica’s record high temperature registered at 63.5° F (17.5° C) at the Esperanza research base on the Antarctic Peninsula, according to a data review released by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) on Wednesday.

The record was set at the Argentine research base on March 24, 2015, Reuters reports. “Verification of maximum and minimum temperatures help us to build up a picture of the weather and climate in one of Earth’s final frontiers,” said an expert with the World Climate Research Programme, co-sponsored by the WMO.

The high for the broader Antarctic region registered at 67.6°F (19.8°C) in 1982, and the high specifically for the Antarctic plateau registered at just 19.4°F (-7.0°C) in 1980.

[Reuters]