Iceland hit a temperature of 19.8°C (67.6°F) on Christmas Eve—the hottest Christmas Eve ever recorded in the country.

For context, average December temperatures in Iceland typically hover in the low 30s (between -1°C and 4°C). So we’re talking about a day that was roughly 16 to 20 degrees warmer than normal. In December. In Iceland.

THE DETAILS: The record was set in Seyðisfjörður, a small town in eastern Iceland, according to the Icelandic Meteorological Office. Nearby Bakkagerði wasn’t far behind at 19.7°C.

The previous all-time December record was also 19.7°C, set back in 2019. Meteorologist Birgir Örn Höskuldsson explained to RÚV that warm air “of tropical origin” had settled over the country while a high-pressure system blocked colder air from moving in.

OF COURSE: This isn’t an isolated freak occurrence. The Arctic region is warming at four times the rate of the rest of the planet, and Iceland has been feeling it. In May, the country experienced record-breaking heatwaves, with temperatures 3-4°C above normal and records broken at 94% of automatic weather stations that have operated for at least 20 years.

Earlier this year, mosquitoes were found in Iceland for the first time—the country had been one of only two places on Earth without them (Antarctica being the other).

ZOOM OUT: The consequences are stacking up fast. Glaciers are collapsing. Fish species from warmer southern waters, like mackerel, are now showing up in Icelandic waters.

This is what the climate crisis looks like in real time—not as abstract projections, but as Christmas Eves warm enough to skip a jacket in a country that sits just below the Arctic Circle.

WHY IT MATTERS: When a place literally named “Iceland” starts breaking heat records in December, it’s a screaming alarm bell.

These aren’t minor fluctuations—they’re the cascading effects of burning fossil fuels for decades while oil companies and their political allies pretended everything was fine. The planet is keeping receipts, and the bill is coming due.