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- Currently in Chicago — September 19, 2023: A grey and damp Tuesday
Currently in Chicago — September 19, 2023: A grey and damp Tuesday
Plus, Antarctic sea ice is having a weird year.
Eric Holthaus & Katje Sabin
September 19, 2023
Cloudy with a chance of rain
Clouds on Monday night will increase, with a low in the mid-50s. Those clouds will keep on piling up throughout Tuesday, bringing a 50% chance of rain in the early afternoon. It will be breezy with a high of 69°, with gusts up to 20mph, then a chance of thunderstorms Tuesday night. But it won’t be too dreary for long; we should have some beautiful mild fall weather towards the end of the week after the rain clears up, possibly with temperatures up into the 80s. If you are dreaming about an autumn road trip, check out this fall foliage tracker to plan for the peak colors.
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:
