Temperature difference from normal as analyzed by GFS model on Dec. 22. (University of Maine Climate Reanalyzer) (This story has been been updated.) Santa may need water skis instead of a sleigh this year. A weather buoy about 90 miles south of the North Pole registered a temperature at the melting point of 32 degrees (0 Celsius) early Thursday, as a giant storm east of Greenland drew abnormally warm air northward. Weather models had predicted temperatures could get this warm and this buoy, part of the North Pole Environmental Observatory , provides validation. “It seems likely areas very close to or at the North Pole were at the freezing point” Thursday, said Zachary Labe, a doctoral student researching Arctic climate and weather at the University of California at Irvine. Data from the buoy (No. 300234064010010, which can be downloaded here ) show that air temperatures have risen more than […]