Can you guess the snowiest place on the planet?

The answer might surprise you.

It's the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, where over 166 feet of snow falls annually. That's 15 stories or 2,000 inches.

I found someone who's been there 🧵 Southern Patagonian Ice Field 🌨️

“I can definitely confirm that the Southern Patagonia Ice Field is a snowy and windy place, and I would not be surprised if it is the snowiest place on the planet,” said Margit Schwikowski, professor emeritus from the University of Bern in Switzerland.

Schwikowski and a team of six researchers, including three Chilean glaciologists, visited the ice field in August 2006 to take ice cores from the Pio XI Glacier, the largest in the Southern Patagonian Ice Field.

“Although our work was finished after four days, we spent two weeks in tents up there. We could not get out because of snowfall and strong winds,” Schwikowski said.

“We took especially rigid tents, a lot of food and skis to be able to get out on our own if the helicopter could not fly. We prepared the GPS track of the escape route to Argentina,” recalled Schwikowski.

In other words, don’t try this at home. Getting to the snowiest place on the planet requires intricate planning, strong mountaineering skills, an escape route and much more.

It’s not about to become the next Instagram hot spot.

Photos: Theo Jenk and Beat Rufibach

A major weather disaster unfolded over the weekend in the island nation of Mayotte in the western Indian Ocean.

It took a direct hit from category four-equivalent Tropical Cyclone Chido - the strongest storm to strike the island on record.

Hundreds of people are feared dead 🧵 Tropical Cyclone Chido nearly reached category five strength north of Madagascar.

A southward jog and strengthening trend saw the storm slam into Mayotte, with a landfall in Grande-Terre and Petite-Terre, the two main islands, followed by another landfall in Mozambique.

Yesterday was Copernicus Day for December 2024!

It's a day for celebrating the arrival of seasonal climate data.

This data provides clues about weather patterns over the next several months 🕵️ A La Niña-like pattern in the equatorial Pacific will help to shape global weather patterns in the months ahead.

Marine heatwaves will also affect local conditions. These blobs of excessive ocean heat are becoming more common in a warming world.

Yesterday was Copernicus Day for November 2024! It's a day celebrated by weather nerds around the world.

Here are the climate trends to know about the season ahead 🧵 Despite a La Niña-like pattern of cool seas in the equatorial Pacific, mild winter temperatures are forecast across large swaths of the Northern Hemisphere - and the planet 🌡️

Yesterday was Copernicus Day for October 2024!

🔮 It's a day for long-range weather & data nerds across the planet!

Here's what you should know about the global climate from late 2024 into early 2025 ⤵️ A La Niña-like pattern in the tropical Pacific is forecast to be a key climate driver for Northern Hemisphere winter.

Elsewhere, excessive ocean warmth, which has built over recent years, is forecast to continue.

A North Pacific marine heatwave is particularly notable.

🔮 Yesterday was Copernicus Day for September 2024 - a holiday for weather nerds around the world!

It marks the day when new long-range forecast data becomes available, providing a glimpse at general climate patterns in the months ahead...

Thread 🧵 The main global climate driver in the months ahead is a developing La Niña.

Cool seas in the tropical Pacific will lead to changing rainfall and thunderstorm patterns there.

This has flow-on effects to weather patterns in distant places, otherwise known as a teleconnection.

Yesterday was "Copernicus Day" for August 2024 ~ a day on which weather nerds get their hands on lots of new long-range forecast data 🤓 💾

Here are five key takeaways 🧵 ⬇️ The height of Atlantic hurricane season is expected to be busier than normal 🌀

Islands in the Caribbean, Mexico, the southern/eastern U.S. + Canada, and even western Europe should be prepared for potential weather extremes.

Yesterday was "Copernicus Day" for July 2024, a monthly holiday for weather nerds around the world 🤓

A bunch of new seasonal climate data just dropped, providing a glimpse at forecast patterns in the months ahead.

🧵 Here's a quick thread about what it's showing... A La Niña-like pattern of cool water in the equatorial Pacific will be a key climate driver in the second half of 2024.

Most elsewhere, global sea surface temperatures are forecast to be above average, with marine heatwaves possible in the North & South Pacific.

Yesterday was "Copernicus Day", a monthly holiday for weather nerds around the world 🤓

A whole bunch of new seasonal climate data just dropped, providing a glimpse at patterns in the months ahead.

🧵 Here's a quick thread about what it's showing... A developing La Niña (cool equatorial Pacific) is expected to become the main climate driver in the second half of 2024.

Most elsewhere, global sea surface temperatures are forecast to be above or well above average, contributing to marine heatwaves and warmer air temperatures.

🧵 May 2024 climatic pulse of the planet…

My goal is to provide simple-yet-powerful information that quantifies last month’s extremes in near-real time - to let the data speak.

We’ll explore temperatures (air & sea), rain, snow, wind, cloud cover, humidity & heat stress ⬇️ May 2024 heat extremes (red, 43% coverage) greatly outpaced cold extremes (blue, 2% coverage).

This is not normal.

While a 1:1 ratio is not to be expected, such a large difference between the two suggests something is out of balance.

A whole bunch of new seasonal climate data just dropped!

Yesterday was "Copernicus Day", a monthly holiday for weather nerds around the world 🤓

🧵 Here's a quick thread about what it's showing for the months ahead 🔮 Above average temperatures (🔴) are almost exclusively predicted worldwide from June-August 2024, aside from La Niña in the equatorial Pacific & a few patchy cool areas.

A hotter than average summer is forecast in the U.S. + Europe & many parts of the Northern Hemisphere.

In the spirit of #COP26, I've put together a few climate charts for measuring change in the #HudsonValley.

We are getting warmer, more humid, and there's more moisture in our atmosphere.

Our future may be a bit foggy, but it's in our hands.

🧵 on our changing climate... #HudsonValley temperatures: 📈

Years with ≤50˚F average temperatures are a thing of the past.

Our future? 55-60˚F average annual temperatures. That's more like Philadelphia or Washington D.C.

December 2021: this forecast of stratospheric temperature anomalies is pretty unusual 🔴

How unusual? The zonal mean anomaly between 60-90˚N is the *2nd warmest* predicted by @ECMWF (from September) compared to all years from 1993-2020.

🧵 Thread: winter forecast tea leaves 🌿 The stratospheric polar vortex, located high up in our atmosphere above the poles during winter, weakens substantially about ~6 times per decade when a sudden warming & west-to-east wind reversal occurs.

This can end up bringing cold weather to the troposphere, where we live 🥶