Extreme Temperature Diary- Tuesday December 16th, 2025/Main Topic: Arctic Endured Year of Record Heat as Climate Scientists Warn of ‘Winter Being Redefined’ – Guy On Climate
Dear Diary. Over the last several months I have reported on various areas of the world that have seen record heat due to climate change. It’s been a while since I have seen any data on, in my opinion, the most important area of the world to keep tabs on temperature, the Arctic region. Should the Arctic retain a fever, it will continue to lose sea ice, which means the albedo of the Arctic ocean will continue to go down, thus further absorbing more solar radiation.
As long correctly predicted by global #climate models...
"New report finds the Arctic continues to warm faster than the planet as a whole"
www.npr.org/2025/12/16/n... — Peter Gleick (@petergleick.bsky.social) 2025-12-16T18:14:49.185Z
The climate situation in the Arctic appears to be dire. We can see how bad things are there given this latest Guardian article:
Arctic endured year of record heat as climate scientists warn of ‘winter being redefined’ | Arctic | The Guardian
Arctic endured year of record heat as climate scientists warn of ‘winter being redefined’Region known as ‘world’s refrigerator’ is heating up as much as four times as quickly as global average, NOAA experts say This aerial view shows icebergs and ice sheets floating in the water off Nuuk, Greenland, on 07 March 2025. Photograph: Odd Andersen/AFP/Getty Images
Arctic
Oliver Milman
Tue 16 Dec 2025
The Arctic endured a year of record heat and shrunken sea ice as the world’s northern latitudes continue a rapid shift to becoming rainier and less ice-bound due to the climate crisis, scientists have reported.
From October 2024 to September 2025, temperatures across the entire Arctic region were the hottest in 125 years of modern record keeping, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said, with the last 10 years being the 10 warmest on record in the Arctic.
The Arctic is heating up as much as four times as quickly as the global average, due to the burning of fossil fuels, and this extra heat is warping the world’s refrigerator – a region that acts as a key climate regulator for the rest of the planet.
The maximum extent of sea ice in 2025 was the lowest in the 47-year satellite record, Noaa reported on in its annual Arctic report card. This is the latest landmark in a longer trend, with the region’s oldest, thickest ice declining by more than 95% since the 1980s as the Arctic becomes hotter and rainier.
This year was a record for precipitation in the Arctic. Much of this is not settling as snow – the June snow cover extent over the Arctic today is half of what it was six decades ago.
“This year was the warmest on record and had the most precipitation on record – to see both of those things happen in one year is remarkable,” said Matthew Langdon Druckenmiller, an Arctic scientist with the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado and an editor of the Arctic report card. “This year has really underscored what is to come.”
Scientists have been struck by how exceptional warmth in other seasons, particularly summer, is now becoming evident in winter too, affecting the annual growth of sea ice across the Arctic in its coldest months. In the past month or so, sea ice extent has been the lowest on record, potentially heralding another reduced maximum for sea ice next year.
“There’s been a steady decline in sea ice and unfortunately we are seeing rain now even in winter,” said Druckenmiller. “We are seeing changes in the heart of winter, when we expect the Arctic to be cold. The whole concept of winter is being redefined in the Arctic.”
These changes are acutely felt by people and wildlife in the Arctic – rain falling on to snow can freeze into a barrier that makes it harder for animals to forage for food, while also making for more slippery, hazardous conditions for people traveling by road. The retreat of glaciers can also cause potentially dangerous flooding, as seen in Juneau, Alaska, this year.
The loss of sea ice is opening up vast areas of dark ocean, which is absorbing, rather than reflecting, more of the heat that is raising global temperatures. While the melting sea ice isn’t itself causing the seas to rise, the loss of land-based glaciers is, with Noaa reporting that the huge Greenland ice sheet lost 129bn tons of ice in 2025. This will add to sea level rise that will menace coastal cities for generations to come.
“We are seeing cascading impacts from a warming Arctic,” said Zack Labe, a climate scientist at Climate Central. “Coastal cities aren’t ready for the rising sea levels, we have completely changed the fisheries in the Arctic which leads to rising food bills for sea food. We can point to the Arctic as a far away place but the changes there affect the rest of the world.”
Here are some “ETs” recorded from around the planet the last couple of days, their consequences, and some extreme temperature outlooks, as well as any extreme precipitation reports:
It’s been observed that tropical cyclones have been migrating poleward in recent years, and climate change was suspected as a cause. But this study found SST patterns caused it, “and that future changes may differ markedly from the recent multi-decadal trends.”
www.nature.com/articles/s41... — Dr. Jeff Masters (@drjeffmasters.bsky.social) 2025-12-16T16:27:33.988Z
Glaciers to reach peak rate of extinction in the Alps in eight years #Climate — Climate Tracker (@climate.skyfleet.blue) 2025-12-15T16:36:34.262Z
It took a while for the centers, labs & groups bringing together scientists, researchers, and communicators on climate to realize Bluesky was a thing. But once they did, they arrived in droves.
Here are the first 100 early adopters. Give ’em a follow!
Day 6 of my 20 Days of Climate Starter Packs. — Katharine Hayhoe (@katharinehayhoe.com) 2025-12-16T18:06:28.231Z
Days 1-5 below: — Katharine Hayhoe (@katharinehayhoe.com) 2025-12-16T18:06:56.865Z
Westpac is funding #climate collapse – but it doesn't have to.
Join Australian healthcare workers and tell #Westpac to stop funding fossil fuel expansion today: www.marketforces.org.au/campaigns/ba... — Market Forces (@marketforces.org.au) 2025-12-16T05:31:09.090Z
Here are the year's breakthroughs for the #climate and #nature you might have missed via BBC Future: www.bbc.com/future/artic... — Lauren C. Teffeau (@teffeau.bsky.social) 2025-12-15T15:38:12.463Z
Parade of Storms will soak the Pacific NW! Flood threat looms large for the next week. Meanwhile the mountains will pile up the snow starting in Whistler BC and Washington State, then eventually - and finally - the Sierra Nevada CA near Tahoe. It’s been pretty snow-less there so far. — Jeff Berardelli (@weatherprof.bsky.social) 2025-12-15T23:45:54.124Z
'Major turning point': EVs make up over a quarter of global car sales in 2025
www.businessgreen.com/news/4523258... — Dr Paul Dorfman (@drpauldorfman.bsky.social) 2025-12-16T11:09:34.850Z
Pointless tech.
HS2
Hinkley Point
Sizewell C
www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte... — Dr Paul Dorfman (@drpauldorfman.bsky.social) 2025-12-16T15:08:29.956Z
— Dr Paul Dorfman (@drpauldorfman.bsky.social) 2025-12-16T11:24:51.279Z
Major poll reveals 70 % of Brits would back a new #solar farm in their local area
www.businessgreen.com/news/4523240... — Dr Paul Dorfman (@drpauldorfman.bsky.social) 2025-12-16T11:04:09.922Z
Powerful heat pump modules, each with capacity 82.5 megawatts, enough to supply 40,000 homes, via district heating system.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... — Dr Paul Dorfman (@drpauldorfman.bsky.social) 2025-12-16T11:03:17.405Z
74 reactors at 23 #nuclear power plant sites worldwide vulnerable to tsunamis, flooding and storm surge. Global political instability leads to further threats.
www.nsenergybusiness.com/analysis/bey... — Dr Paul Dorfman (@drpauldorfman.bsky.social) 2025-12-16T10:56:30.635Z
Last year, a record 582 GW of renewable energy generation capacity was added to the world’s supplies: almost no new nuclear was added. Indeed, each year, new #renewables add about 200 times more global electricity than new #nuclear does.
beyondnuclearinternational.org/2025/12/14/d... — Dr Paul Dorfman (@drpauldorfman.bsky.social) 2025-12-16T10:51:17.663Z
SMR #nuclear bubble will burst in 2029. Power supply forecasts three- to five-year timeframe. #SMR's expected 2030 - 2035 will not be there, energy planners will omit them from next planning window. Deals will dry up, investors will dump stocks.
beyondnuclearinternational.org/2025/12/14/t... — Dr Paul Dorfman (@drpauldorfman.bsky.social) 2025-12-16T10:45:11.035Z
Drumroll, please. 🥁
We bring to you a roundup of SciFri staff favorites from the last 12 months, from a death metal podcast to a duck stamp extravaganza—and everything in between. — Science Friday (@scifri.bsky.social) 2025-12-16T00:34:00.575Z
New UK MI6 chief: Tech bosses are becoming as powerful as nations. Tech creates “peril” as weapons, drones and robots inflicted devastation on the battlefield, and some algorithms could “become as powerful as states”.
www.thetimes.com/uk/defence/a... — Dr Paul Dorfman (@drpauldorfman.bsky.social) 2025-12-16T10:59:30.178Z
|
