Stations Across Antarctica Log Coldest January Temperatures Ever; Utah ‘Sinks’ To -62F, State’s Coldest Reading Since 2002; Asia’s All-Time Lows; + “The Stratosphere Has Suddenly Become Very, Very Cold”

Cap Allon

Stations Across Antarctica Log Coldest January Temperatures Ever

As discussed yesterday, for the past 7-decades –at least– Antarctica has been defying AGW Party orders and COOLING with its ice sheet EXPANDING. This trend has intensified in recent years, with the burgeoning 2023 continuing the move…

Extreme cold (for summer) is striking Antarctica this January with anomalous readings well-below -40C a regular feature.

On Saturday, Jan 28 the infamous Vostok Station, which lies at the southern Pole of Cold, posted a staggering -47.5C (-53.5F) — the station’s lowest January temperature since the -48.5C (-55.3F) of Jan 30, 1989 (solar minimum of cycle 21).

Then, on Sunday, Jan 29, Vostok sank even further, logging a low of -48.7C (-55.7F) which took out 1989’s historical January low and made it the station’s coldest-ever summer temperature since its opening back in 1957 (note: slightly lower temps were posted in 1994 and 1998 but both failed quality control).


Moreover, data for the entire month of December are also in for Vostok, and confirm that the station, with an average of -34.1C (-29.4F), endured its second-coldest final month of the year since records began (after Dec 1999).

Antarctica’s cooling is also observed across the continent, not just at Vostok.

For example, the South Pole Station suffered its coldest-ever coreless winter in 2021 (April-Sept), and has posted colder-than-average months ever-since: The most recent being Nov 2022’s -40.4C (-40.7F)—coldest since 1987; Dec 2022’s -29.1C (-20.4F)—coldest since 2006; Jan 2023’s (approx.) -31.3C (-24.3F)—coldest since 1995; and the Summer of 2022-23’s -30.2C (-22.4F)—coldest since 1999-2000.

The Italian-French Concordia Station further-confirmed the cooling on Monday, Jan 30. Its low of -48.5C (-55.3F) matched the station’s lowest-ever January temperature which was posted just last year.

A clear trend is emerging for those whose eyes are their own: Here are Concorida’s January lows in chronological order: -48C on Jan 28, 2012; -48.3C on Jan 31, 2012; -48.5C on Jan 30, 2022; and now -48.5C on Jan 30, 2023.

Nothing says “Catastrophic Sea Level Rise” like the world’s largest ice sheet, home to 90% of the planet’s surface freshwater, suffering persistent and record-breaking COLD. Nothing says “Global Warming” like the bottom of the world COOLING.


Utah ‘Sinks’ To -62F, State’s Coldest Reading Since 2002

Records are beginning to fall across the U.S., and indeed Canada, as this week’s Arctic Outbreak enters.

Monday was particularly-frigid in Central-Western states with Peter Sink, Utah claiming the cherry with its -62F (-52.2C) — the state’s lowest temperature since 2002.

Elsewhere, Denver’s -10F (-23.3C) on Jan 30 tied a cold record set in 1985 (solar minimum of cycle 21).

While in Dillon, Montana, a low of -27F (-32.8C) early Monday morning busted the city’s previous record from 1951.

Extreme cold also shattered benchmarks across eastern Idaho on Monday, with bone-chilling lows reported in Rexburg, Idaho Falls, Pocatello, Stanley and Challis, to name just five regions.

The above is by no means a comprehensive list of the Lower-48’s felled records.

And there is still much, much more to come…


…including another Polar Plunge currently forecast for mid-Feb:


Additionally, authorities in Nevada are blaming the state’s extortionate gas bills on two factors: 1) rising natural gas prices (questionable: gas prices have actually been tanking in recent month), and 2) an abnormally cold January.

With regards to the latter, of the 30 days so far this month, just five have reached normal highs.


Asia’s All-Time Lows

Asia’s historic cold spell is persisting.

Concentrating on the Southeast, anomalous-lows continue to be posted, including the 2.6C at Lang Son, Vietnam; the 1.5C at Samneua, 1.6C at Viengsay, and 1.6C at Tkakhek, all Laos; and the 5.1C at Nakhon Phanom Agro, Thailand.

Also, when those parroting, obfuscating alarmists claim that “zero cold records have fallen in 2023”–as they are assured of claiming, for they claim it every year–be sure to forward them the below graphic, which logs just five of the “new all-time cold temperature records in Asia, by location”, including the all-time national low set in China at Mohe city on January 22:


“The Stratosphere Has Suddenly Become Very, Very Cold”

Around the North Pole, “the stratosphere has suddenly become very, very cold,” writes Dr Tony Phillips.

NASA satellites are registering exceptionally-low temperatures of less than -85C which is the threshold for the formation of rare polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs).

Over the past week, PSCs, also know as nacreous clouds, have spilled outside the Arctic Circle and are seen to be intensifying and also spreading unusually-far south.

On Sunday evening into Monday morning, sky-gazers across Scotland were treated to the rare phenomenon:

PSCs cloud seen at sunset in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.


Also referred to as “mother-of-pearl”, PSCs are considered rare because of the very cold conditions needed for them to form. The fact that these clouds are forming at such low latitudes may be an indication that the ‘polar jets’ (or ‘polar vortex’) is weakening, which could in turn signal that more Arctic air is about to descend unusually-far south (as we’re already in Asia and North America).

A PSC spotted over Scotland, also known as “mother-of-pearl”.


Sunspots

Finishing with a brief look at sunspots, activity on the Sun has nosedived in recent days.

From the calculated 200+ sunspots of last week we’re now down into the 60s.

If a Grand Solar Minimum is indeed on the cards, as is my contention (by SC26/27), then what we just saw could be considered ‘death throes’. There may-well be additional ‘fits and starts’ and ‘violent splutterings’ to come, but I believe the current cycle (SC25) will peak sooner than forecasted and then drive into a deeper minimum than even the historically low SC24.

Time, of course, will tell on that one.

None of these small sunspots poses a threat for flaring. [SDO/HMI]
Note: each sunspot ‘region’ –of which there are currently 5– will often contain multiple spots.


Thank you for the ‘cornfield planting’ tips I’ve received — they’ve all been helpful.

I’ll let you know how things go (my makeshift trailer idea was an abject failure, btw).

And finally, here in Central Portugal it’s gotten so frosty that our external water pipe (leading up from our lake) has frozen, meaning, at least for today, we won’t be able to top up our water tank.

Nothing says “global warming” like… …you know how it goes…

Enjoy your Tuesday.

Spring is around the corner, believe it or not — get those vegetable beds prepped.