Arctic Cold vs The Melt Season; "Hottest Summer Ever" Update; Before Warming Panic, There Was Cooling Panic; Simple Climate Model Cuts CO2 Sensitivity; + Solar Cycle 25 Slips Again

The Arctic basin is sitting at its coldest June levels in data back to 1958.

Arctic Cold vs The Melt Season

The High Arctic is entering melt season at the cold edge of the modern record.

DMI data for daily 2 m air temperature north of 80N show 2026 running far below the normal June climb. The red line is pressed against the lower boundary of the 1958-2026 spread. Veteran meteorologist Joe Bastardi called the cold “unprecedented.”

On June 12, the 80N average fell to -4.2C (24.5F). By June 14, it was still below freezing at -2.3C (27.8F).

June is when the high Arctic normally pushes toward 0C (32F). Below that line, surface melt remains constrained.

The public is fed amplification warnings, while the core Arctic basin is sitting at/near the coldest June level in data back to 1958.

And the polar cold is not confined to the Arctic.

Both GFS and ECMWF show a broad cold pool across Antarctica, including the South Pole region.