Record-breaking temperatures
On 6 February 2020, the Esperanza Base weather station at the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula detected that temperatures had soared to 18.3 degrees Celsius, the hottest ever recorded in Antarctica. This was due to warm tropical air moving across the Southern Ocean to melt the ice. These winds would normally be blocked by a group of strong westerly winds that band around the Southern Hemisphere. However, they are thought to have been in a weakened state at the time, allowing the tropical winds to reach the peninsula. It resulted in 20 per cent of regional snow accumulation on the peninsula’s Eagle Island to be lost in a single event.