Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, was less cold this Wednesday than Washington. Much of the US suffers an intense winter wave that has broken several records.
The polar vortex on Wednesday reached its maximum point in much of the United States, with an frozen predominance that made the icy Greenland seem like a warm vacation place compared. Even the planet Mars has been warmer than North Dakota this week.
But there is hope. Some of the coldest parts of the United States are expected to experience a temperature increase of up to 32 degrees Celsius next week, before the planned return of another polar ice cream the first week of March, meteorologists indicated.
With a temperature of 1 ºC, Nuuk, the capital of Greenland – a gigantic island cover of ice in the north of the continent – was 6 ºC warmer than the US capital of Washington, DC on Wednesday morning.
The minimum average temperature of Wednesday in the United States contiguous state National Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Meanwhile, parts of Greenland have been experiencing their version of a winter heat wave, with temperatures of approximately 5 ° C in a glacier east of Nuuk since February 12, which has caused a sustained thaw, observed Jason Box, scientist Danish specialized in ice.
“They are sending us the cold air there, we are sending the warm air to them,” said Judah Cohen, director of seasonal forecasts at the private firm Atmospheric and Environmental Research.
Nuuk feels spring and warmer than Christmas in northern Spain, Daniel Rodríguez observed, a Spaniard who moved to Greenland in 2023.
“Ten years ago it was cold and there was a lot of snow, but now it is different,” said Melina Moller-Olsen, a Greenland who has lived in Nuuk for 41 years. “I don't like it because I love winter.”
The polar vortex – which normally catches icy air around the upper part of the globe – has extended for the tenth time this winter and for the thirteenth time since October, so the cold has reached southern Texas, Cohen said.
In addition to that, high pressure and warm climate in Greenland are helping to channel and intensify cold air, with high obvious pressure to the south to the United States, which makes it even more cold, he added.
“We are seeing the worst of winter,” Maue said. “This is extreme. It is at the coldest level that can be achieved at this time of year in many places, from the Dakotas to Texas. ”
On Tuesday, the city of Bismarck, North Dakota, established a minimum temperature record of 39 degrees below zero. On Monday, Bismarck had a maximum of 24 ºC below zero. That same day, the Gale crater on Mars heated up to a maximum of 20 ºC below zero, Maue said.
Hettinger, North Dakota, was the coldest place in the nation on Wednesday, with 43 ºC below zero, but for Sunday, that part of North Dakota will reach about 10 ºC, a 32nd turn.
It will take time for everyone to leave. Saturday and Sunday, up to 230 million Americans will feel temperatures below zero. For Monday, only 143 million people will experience that cold, and for Tuesday only 40 million, he added. And on Tuesday, all in the United States will be above zero at some point.
Computer prognosis models indicate that the polar vortex will probably extend again, sending cold air to the south in some specific place and probably to the United States, approximately March 5, Cohen said.