The reading, recorded by Argentina's national weather service at its Esperanza base, topped the former record of 17.5 degrees tallied in March 2015.
World Meteorological Organisation spokeswoman Clare Nullis said the temperature"is not a figure you would normally associate with Antarctica even in the summertime."
"We hear a lot about the Arctic. But, you know, this particular part of the Antarctic Peninsula is warming very quickly," she said.The nearby Marambio base reported another record temperature of 14.1 degrees on Thursday — the hottest day there for February since 1971. The WMO's committee that draws on the agency's weather and climate archives is now expected to verify whether the Esperanza reading would amount to a new record.
WMO said the Antarctic Peninsula, on the continent's northwest tip near South America, is among the fastest warming regions on Earth — at almost three degrees Celsius over the last half-century.The record in the wider Antarctic region is 19.8 degrees in January, 1982. Some 87 per cent of glaciers along the west coast of the peninsula have retreated over that 50-year span, with most showing an accelerated retreat over the last 12 years, WMO said.
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