Rain on Snow

"Even ordinary rainfall can be regarded as an extreme event in polar regions," Dou said. This is because rain-on-snow events, which occur when rain falls onto an existing snowpack and freezes into an ice crust, impact wildlife, infrastructure and local communities.

Unusual weather patterns in Sweden’s arctic region seem to be jeopardising the migrating animals’ traditional grazing grounds, as rainfall during the winter has led to thick layers of snowy ice that block access to food.

This summer, for the first time on record, rain fell on Greenland’s frozen summit. The Northern Hemisphere experienced warmer-than-usual summer temperatures this year, and even the coldest environments are being impacted.