Documented record · well documented
Esperanza Base, Antarctic Peninsula
February peak daily maximum · Antarctica
Esperanza Base recorded 18.3 °C, verified by the World Meteorological Organization as the highest temperature measured on the Antarctic continental mainland.
Why a record is measured against the place
A number on its own says very little. 18.3 °C would be unremarkable in one climate and unthinkable in another. What makes a record matter is its distance from what that place, at that time of year, has historically produced — its own normal.
Not Normal expresses that distance in standard deviations (σ) from a thirty-year baseline. Two σ above normal is reached in roughly 1 year in 44 under the baseline climate; four σ above, roughly 1 year in 32,000.
Modelled demonstration series · not observed data
The same place on the field
Not Normal carries a modelled 75-year series for Esperanza Base, Antarctic Peninsula (February peak daily maximum) that demonstrates the reasoning above. It is synthesised from published climatology, not observed, and is kept apart from the documented record on this page.
The season here
February is high summer on the peninsula — the one time of year the northern tip can climb well above freezing.
Other documented records
Open Esperanza Base on the field →