• pete_the_cat@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    I find it hilarious that they’re like “It’s 14F! Break out the shorts and T-shirts!” Meanwhile anyone anywhere else (except the Arctic regions) is like “This is pretty fucking cold”.

    • spauldo@lemmy.ml
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      9 months ago

      It likely feels warmer. Antarctica is almost entirely desert. The “dry heat” argument works for cold, too.

      I’ve been outside in a t-shirt and jeans in northern Greenland (also polar desert) when it was below freezing and was completely comfortable. I could have hung around out there all day if the day wasn’t four months long. I like the cold and I’ve got extra mass to keep me warm, though.

        • spauldo@lemmy.ml
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          9 months ago

          Maybe at the south pole. There’s little to no snow around where I was in northern Greenland. It gets above freezing up there during the summer and it almost never snows, so what accumulation you do get is actually from snow being blown off the ice cap rather than down from the sky. So it takes a while to build back up in the winter.

          • 100@lemm.ee
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            9 months ago

            I left not too long ago, it’s gotten significantly warmer. Rained every week of summer. I think it hit 60 one day. The tow is closed because the permafrost underneath shifted and the building is cracking in half.

            • spauldo@lemmy.ml
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              9 months ago

              Oh, holy shit. They normally leave the foundation vents open on the buildings in the winter and close them in the spring to make sure the permafrost stays frozen.

              One of my coworkers (who loves going to Thule) is a major climate change denier. Wonder how he’ll spin that when we go back in a couple years.

              “The tow” isn’t ringing bells - what’s that again?

              • 100@lemm.ee
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                9 months ago

                The tow was (rip) the bar. That’s wild, you can literally see the change happening in real time. If you guys do work on the radar regularly we’ve probably met haha, small world.

                • spauldo@lemmy.ml
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                  9 months ago

                  Ah, that’s right. Damn, that’s half the social scene there.

                  We work on the fuel farm. It’s up for a major overhaul in a couple years.