The U.N.’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO) unearthed a record-low temperature reading for the northern hemisphere of nearly -70 degrees Celsius (-93 F) recorded nearly three decades ago in Greenland.
The WMO publicly announced the findings Wednesday, confirming the all-time cold reading for the northern hemisphere is -69.6 Celsius recorded on Dec. 22, 1991, at an automatic weather station in a remote site named Klinck, near the summit of the Greenland Ice Sheet.
The temperature reading surpassed the -67.8°C recorded twice in Siberia in 1892 and 1933. According to WMO, the lowest temperature ever recorded on Earth is -89.2 Celsius (-128.6 F) recorded in 1983 in Antarctica.
“In the era of climate change, much attention focuses on new heat records,” said WMO Secretary-General Professor Petteri Taalas in a statement. “This newly recognized cold record is an important reminder about the stark contrasts that exist on this planet.”
The record was unearthed by so-called “climate detectives” working with the WMO’s Archive of Weather and Climate Extremes to search through historical data to find the highest and lowest temperatures, rainfall, heaviest hailstone, longest dry period, maximum gust of wind, longest lightning flash and weather-related mortalities.
