Mildest January in Svalbard in 90 years – news Vestland

– It is as expected. It has been a formidable increase. That’s according to climate researcher Jostein Mamen at the Meteorological Institute. On an average January day on Svalbard in the years between 1961-1990, the thermometer showed -15.3 degrees Celsius. From 1991 until 2020, it was – 10.9 cold blue during the first two weeks of January. The contrast from the 1960s until the first two weeks of January this year is great. At that time, the average temperatures for Svalbard airport and Ny-Ålesund were 1.7 degrees Celsius. This means that the January days have become 14 degrees milder on average. Climate change is happening fastest in Svalbard – We see that Svalbard is one of the areas where climate change is happening the fastest, says Mamen, and adds: – We must probably expect temperatures to rise even more. But this year’s January is not the mildest that has been measured in Svalbard. In the 1930s it was even milder. It was then a warm period on Svalbard. In January 1933, the average temperature was -0.9 degrees Celsius. – A number of climate skeptics will perhaps take this as an excuse that climate change is not man-made? – The man-made climate changes now come on top of the natural factors. It may be that the natural factors made it very mild, but that does not disprove global warming, says Mamen. – Has it been mild Siiri Wickström researches climate adaptation at the University Center in Svalbard (UNIS), and has lived in Svalbard since 2016. – One expects it to be cold and clear, but we have had a cloudy and warm January, she says about January month to now Wickström says the weather varies from year to year, but that they keep hearing reports of new heat records in Svalbard. They also clearly see in the research that the climate is changing, she says. – The underlying trend is that it is getting warmer, says Wickström. The summer is also getting hotter The summer of 2022 was also the hottest summer recorded. Before, summer temperatures were around 4–5 degrees, but last year they were still close to 8 degrees.



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