9781422279205

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Brrrr!

Words to Understand

balmy  mild constellation  an arrangement of stars fluctuates  shifts back and forth hemisphere  the northern or southern half of the Earth as divided by the equator morphs  changes in form tongue-in-cheek  jokingly, sarcastically

T hink it’s cold where you live?Well, let’s say you’re in Buffalo, New York. It can get pretty chilly there. Winter tempera- tures in January average a high of about 31°F (–0.6°C). It’s even colder in Minneapolis, where the high temperature averages 24°F (–4.4°C) in the first full month of winter. Of course, it’s all relative: In LosAngeles, California, they consider it cold anytime the high thermometer reading dips below 60°F (15°C)—which it doesn’t do very often. But all of that is nothing compared to the frigid conditions in the Arctic and the Antarctic.

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