New lowest temperature on Earth just recorded amid global heatwave

Last month, Earth dropped to its coldest temperature in 14 years.

Antarctica’s Concordia research station recorded the frigid temperature of –119.4°F (–84.1°C) on July 18.

The remote research station recorded the bone-chilling temperatures twice overnight, at 6:25 am and again at 6:34 am.

These extreme sub-freezing reports are the coldest to be recorded anywhere on Earth since 2012, when temps at Russia’s Vostok Station in East Antarctica reached −119.6°F

An inland ice box, the Concordia research station is located 600 miles from the coast and sits at 10,500 feet above sea level on the chilly peak of a 10,800 ft ice cap.

During the summer months, which correlate to winter in the Southern Hemisphere, temperatures routinely fall below –112°F, but July’s low is colder than usual.

“During winter, there is no sunlight for months, the atmosphere is extremely dry and stable, and under clear skies, heat continuously escapes to space because there are no clouds, allowing temperatures to fall to extraordinary levels,” Gabriele Carugati, the station leader at Concordia for Italy’s National Antarctic Research Program, told Live Science.

He shared that the recent lows illustrate “how variable Antarctic weather can still be.”

Adding that even at Concordia, “where extreme cold is expected, temperatures below minus 84°C are remarkable.”

Concordia is home to some of the most extreme cold weather on Earth, and its isolated location makes it an ideal place to study weather and the atmosphere.

During the winter months, plane travel is not possible, and the nearest research center is the aforementioned Vostok Station, well over 370 miles away.

Experts note that the research team at Concordia is technically more isolated than those who occupy the International Space Station, which orbits a relatively cozy 250 miles above Earth.

The record for coldest temperatures recorded at Concordia was –120.5°F, set in the winter of 2010.

Meanwhile, the coldest temperature ever recorded on Earth was –128.6°F at Vostok in July of 1983.

If that doesn’t make your nipples hard and your teeth chatter, consider that satellite data suggests the numbers could fall even further, with the possibility of dropping as low as –144°F in East Antarctica.

These low lows and potential lowest points happen in shallow depressions near the peak of the ice sheet, and scientists believe it’s where air is about as cold as it can naturally become on Earth.

These frigid figures emerge as the Northern Hemisphere is ablaze, literally and metaphorically, with record-high temperatures and recent wildfires.

Even Antarctica itself is not immune; last month, Argentina’s Esperanza base on the Trinity Peninsula in Northern Antarctica recorded its hottest-ever winter temperature, a steamy 59.7°F.

Researchers maintain that Antarctica is melting from below due to rising heat from the ocean, threatening the ice shelves, potentially accelerating sea rise and other catastrophic climate effects around the globe.

Indeed, last February, New York City was colder than parts of Antarctica after brutal, life-threatening winds swept across much of the Northeast and New England.

Last year, an “Antarctic heatwave,” not an oxymoron, led to temperatures at Concordia climbing to 15.1°F, the highest and hottest ever recorded at the outpost and a figure 32° higher than the same time the previous year.

Carugati explains that the effects of climate change and, in effect, temperatures are hard to predict, and recent record lows do not suggest that the Earth is trending positively.

“Climate change describes the long–term global trends, while individual weather events can still [bring] exceptional cold,” he said.

“Antarctica is influenced by complex atmospheric processes, so an extreme low temperature at one location does not contradict the broader picture of global warming.”