Vostok's Coldest April Since 1999; Global Temperature Expected To Fall In May; Tonga Eruption Responsible For Toasty 2023; + X-Flare

A period of "significant global cooling" looms.

Vostok's Coldest April Since 1999

The monthly average temperature for Vosok is in, and it reads even more anomalous than the South Pole Station.

With a reading of -67.9C (-90.2F), last month at Vostok was a substantial -3.1C below the 1958-2023 reference period, making for the station's coldest April since 1999 (-70.4C/-94.7F).

Vostok saw -80C (-112F) on April 29, the station's first sub -80C in the month of April since April 19, 1998, and only the fourth occurrence in the operational history of the research facility (1958), these being the -81.8C on April 25, 1964; the -80.7C on April 24, 1981; the -80.7C on April 19, 1998; and now the -80C on April 29, 2024.

Extreme chills arrived unusually early in Antarctica this year, and they're intensifying.