A totally anomalous warm spell sent temperatures soaring in Greenland on November 29, 2017 with temperatures above the freezing mark as far north as northwest Greenland. As in November 2016 and December 2016, a surge of warm air from the Atlantic pouring northward is responsible for the freak temperatures in northern Greenland.
A high temperature of 4.7 degrees Celsius, roughly 40 degrees Fahrenheit, was reported Wednesday at Qaanaaq Airport, along the far northwest coast of Greenland at a latitude of about 77.5 degrees north, about 750 miles north of the Arctic Circle. That equates to temperatures roughly 50 degrees above average in northern Greenland for late November, where temperatures are usually in the minus 20s and minus 30s Fahrenheit.
This tongue of warmer air arrived by means of strong southerly winds sandwiched between a strong low pressure system located over northern Canada and a strong high pressure system located near east-central Canada. Also contributing to the warmth were ocean temperatures 6-10 degrees above average between southern Greenland and adjacent portions of eastern Canada.
As strange as this sounds, last November and again last December, near or above-freezing air surged as far north as the North Pole.
Meanwhile, a BOMBOGENESIS swept the Aleutian Islands in Alaska.
