Computer-projected models have shown that the air temperature at the North Pole could touch 5°C this week, though it is usually around -30°C to -35°C at the time of the year, The Guardian reported. Meteorologists said the sudden rise stems from the same low pressure system that has brought floods to the United Kingdom and tornadoes to parts of the United States.

The change is so drastic that the region could well become warmer than Chicago, Vienna and Istanbul this week, they said. In fact, the weather there will be milder weather than most of Canada and the US, experts confirmed.

“That’s absolutely terrifying and incredibly rare,” said meteorologist Eric Holthaus to Slate. The figures are being read as glaring evidence of climate change, with experts fearing that the Arctic will lose even more of its declining ice build-up. Temperatures in the Arctic have gone above 0°C only three times since 1948.