Normally we consider extreme heatwaves to be taking place largely in the warm and temperate land masses of the United States and Europe. These areas already are warm in summer; the heatwaves cause them to become much hotter.
Yet at the southernmost point on the planet, where the weather is among the coldest on earth, equally frightening weather events are taking place.
So much so that ironically the largest recorded heatwave took place in one of the coldest areas of the world in 2022. The temperature soared 100 degrees above the average in East Antarctica. The record consists not just in the temperature itself but in the amount it surged above the temperature that is normal in that area at that time of the year.
Not only that, but winter sea ice formation in the southernmost part of the planet is at its lowest point ever on record.
Indeed, heatwaves are increasingly affecting the seas and the polar ice caps. Some experts consider these heatwaves to be the marine equivalent of highly damaging wildfires.