Alaska faces ’Icemageddon’ as temperatures swing wildly

 

阿拉斯加氣溫大幅震盪面臨「冰雪末日」

【摘要2022.1.26.三.自由】◎管淑平

Extreme weather in Alaska that has brought record high temperatures and torrential downpours has left authorities in the far northern US state warning of "Icemageddon".

阿拉斯加出現的極端天氣帶來破紀錄的高溫和豪雨，使這個美國遙遠北方州的政府警告「冰雪末日」。

Hours after thermometers on Kodiak Island in the south reached 19.4 degrees Celsius － the warmest December temperature ever recorded in Alaska － the interior of the state saw 25 millimeters of rain fall in just a few hours, a downpour unseen in decades.

位於南部的科迪亞克氣溫達到攝氏19.4度—阿拉斯加有史以來12月最高溫—數小時後，該州內陸地區僅幾小時就降下250公釐雨量，是數十年來未曾見過的暴雨。

Then when temperatures plummeted again, it all froze. The state’s transportation department has coined the neologism － a play on "Armageddon" － to describe the chilly impasse.

然後氣溫再度驟降，萬物結凍。阿拉斯加州運輸部用電影「世界末日」之名，創造這個新詞，形容這種冰封景象。

"We’re experiencing an unprecedented series of winter storms," the department tweeted. (AFP)

該部推文說，「我們正經歷空前的一連串冬季風暴」。（法新社）

新聞辭典

swing：動詞，變化，擺動。例句：I’ve recently experienced significant mood swings.（我情緒起伏大。）

downpour：名詞，傾盆大雨，暴雨。例句：We got caught in a downpour.（我們遇到一場暴雨。）

coin：動詞，創造，杜撰。例句：Science fiction writer Neal Stephenson coined the term “metaverse”.（科幻作家尼爾‧史蒂文森創造「元宇宙」這個名詞。）