Almost minus 70 degrees: Greenland breaks cold record!

Geneva - The lowest temperature ever recorded in the northern hemisphere has been measured on Greenland .However, the memorable day was almost 30 years ago, as the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reported in Geneva on Wednesday.

An automatic weather station registered minus 69.6 degrees on December 22, 1991. "Climate detectives" discovered the measurement and checked it thoroughly.

They were convinced that the measurement was accurate. The WMO therefore accepted the temperature for its record books.

Previously, minus 67.8 degrees in Siberia was considered the coldest temperature ever measured in the northern hemisphere. According to the WMO, it was measured in February 1892 in Verkhoyansk and in January 1933 in Oimyakon.

Worldwide, Vostok in the Antarctic holds the record for the lowest temperature ever measured: minus 89.2 degrees in July 1983.

Verkhoyansk was in the headlines in June with a measurement of 38 degrees. The WMO is currently investigating whether this was a record for the highest temperature ever measured above the Arctic Circle.

On Greenland, the US University of Wisconsin-Madison maintained a measuring station in Klinck at an altitude of 3105 meters in 1991, as the WMO reported.

The station was dismantled after two years and was later used in the Antarctic. At that time, the WMO did not record weather and climate extremes. It has only been doing so since 2007.

To verify the measurement, polar scientists tracked down colleagues who were involved in the project in Greenland at the time and were thus able to ensure that the highest scientific standards were met.