- Currently Portland
- Posts
- Currently in Portland — September 19, 2023: A bit more sun
Currently in Portland — September 19, 2023: A bit more sun
Plus, Antarctic sea ice is having a weird year.
Eric Holthaus
September 19, 2023
The weather, currently.
Tuesday is partly cloudy again, but with a bit more sun than Monday.
The clouds and cooler temps are sticking around, and Tuesday’s high will hover around 70, with some scattered clouds in the sky. Overnight lows will dip into the mid 50s, and we’re also likely to get some rain in the evening or overnight, leading into Wednesday morning.
It’s time to break the sweaters out of storage if you haven’t already (I’m wearing a sweater right now.) It’s also time to think about cool weather comfort foods, and foods that keep the oven on for a while. I think this week will mark the first stew of the season!
— Stella Harris
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.
Currently Sponsorships are short messages we co-write with you to plug your org, event, or climate-friendly business with Currently subscribers. It’s a chance to boost your visibility with Currently — one of the world’s largest daily climate newsletters — and support independent climate journalism, all at the same time. Starting at just $105.
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:
