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- Currently in Seattle — September 19, 2023: Pack rain gear and sunglasses
Currently in Seattle — September 19, 2023: Pack rain gear and sunglasses
Plus, Antarctic sea ice is having a weird year.
Loren Drummond & Eric Holthaus
September 19, 2023
The weather, currently.
Chance of showers after 5 p.m.
Sun, clouds, showers, mist: Tuesday is looking to do it all.
We’re looking at a partly cloudy day, with showers starting around 5 p.m. and morphing into overnight mist that may persist into your Wednesday morning commute. Rain gear, an emergency umbrella, and some layers are the order of the day. And maybe sunglasses, because this is Seattle weather we’re talking about.
Highs will be 65, but lows are starting to dip into the high 40s, so you might want to break out your winter bin and throw on some socks.
What you need to know, currently.
Antarctic sea ice continues to grow at a pace far below any previous year on record. As we approach springtime in the Southern Hemisphere and with a Pacific El Niño strengthening, there are worries that melt season may have already begun weeks early.
There is some speculation that Antarctic sea ice extent, which has been at daily record lows for the last 4 months, might already have peaked for this year.
It has been a very weird year, that I'm not sure anyone entirely understands.
— Dr. Robert Rohde (@RARohde)
2:21 PM • Sep 18, 2023
The BBC interviewed Antarctic research scientists, and their words are worth reflecting on.
"It's so far outside anything we've seen, it's almost mind-blowing," Walter Meier, who monitors sea-ice with the National Snow and Ice Data Center, told the BBC.
Since it is already floating, melting sea ice does not on its own raise sea levels. But sea ice forms a buffer encircling Antarctica from warming waters, and the loss of that sea ice would accelerate the loss of land ice in the Antarctic ice sheets, which would raise sea levels — perhaps dangerously so.
This is one further sign that we are in the emergency phase of the climate crisis, and that world leaders need to do uncomfortable things to restore a climate balance and pave the way for a just future for everyone.
What you can do, currently.
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One of my favorite organizations, Mutual Aid Disaster Relief, serves as a hub of mutual aid efforts focused on climate action in emergencies — like hurricane season. Find mutual aid network near you and join, or donate to support existing networks:
