To stay on top of local weather, I read the WGN Weather blog. I like that it goes into more detail than most other local weather sites. It also has a daily Q&A post, where you can ask Tom Skilling a question (he's the most popular weather guy in Chicago-land). Right before I started writing my last post about Svalbard, I read this Q&A, which I thought was really interesting, and also very timely:
Question:
How does the North Pole temperature compare with the South Pole for comparable seasons?
Answer:
The South Pole is much colder than the North Pole. The average summer temperature at the North Pole is 32 degrees (above zero) and in the winter it’s minus 40 degrees; at the South Pole, it’s –18 degrees, summer, and –76 degrees, winter. There are two reasons for the difference. The first is the difference between land and sea. The North Pole is approximately in the middle of the Arctic Ocean, separated from the “warm” water of the ocean by a few feet of ice. Warmth from the water works through the ice and into the air. The South Pole is in Antarctica, about 800 miles from the nearest ocean. The second reason is elevation. The North Pole sits at sea level; the South Pole is at 9,301 feet. Temperatures decline about 4.5 degrees for every 1,000 feet of elevation increase.