The German online news magazine FOCUS reports here today that a new record low temperature has been set at a station in Antarctica.

The Neumayer III station, operated by Germany’s Alfred Wegener Institute, has recorded the lowest temperature at their Antarctic location since the start of operations there 29 years ago. The mercury dropped to -50.2°C.

According to polar meteorologist Gert König-Langlo of the Neumayer III, such similarly low temperatures have been recorded only 10 times since Neumayer operations began at this location. Says König-Langlo:

This is the first time we’ve gone under the minus 50 degree mark.

The Neumayer III is located on the approximately 200-meter thick Ekstrom Ice Shelf. The station is moving with the shelf ice at about 200 meters per year in the direction of the open sea.

FOCUS online is quick to point out that this record cold is not a sign of climate change, but rather it is a local regional weather phenomenon (only warm events are signs of climate change).

According to König-Langlo:

The cause was the ongoing cloudless and very low wind weather conditions, which is rare in the region. A light breeze is enough to put an end to the phenomenon.

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