Sermitsiaq has previously reported how the ski lift in Nuuk has been completely shut down in January due to high temperatures and lack of snow.
DMI has now compiled the temperature measurements for January and concludes that the month has gone down in weather history as the warmest January ever measured.
DMI describes in a press release that they measured a whopping 11.3 degrees Celsius on the warmest day in January in Nuuk, and the average for the entire month is 0.1 degrees Celsius.
This is a new record, which is 7.8 degrees above the climate normal (1991-2020) and 1.4 degrees above a 109-year-old record for Nuuk from 1917.
Similar picture up the coast
According to DMI, it is not only in Nuuk but all the way up the west coast where the temperature has set monthly records.
In Llullissat, the average for January was 1.6 degrees below zero. This is 1.3 degrees warmer than the previous record from 1929 and 11.0 degrees warmer than the normal for January:
- The heat has hit the entire western part of Greenland, and several cities are experiencing exceptionally warm temperatures for the time of year.
- It happens from time to time that warmer air flows up over Greenland, or a Foen wind can bring plus degrees for a day or two. But such significant deviations, over such a long time and over such a large area, are something that makes an impression, says DMI's climatologist Caroline Drost Jensen and adds:
- I am constantly keeping an eye on the temperature measurements in February, as the winter in Greenland may well end up offering several records.
