3 January 2011 - Rain In Arctic Canada's Nunavut; Temps Averaging 10-12 C Above Winter Averages

[hatrack]

A lack of sea ice in parts of Canada's eastern Arctic is contributing to unusually mild temperatures in Nunavut, according to scientists. In recent months, the weather in many parts of Nunavut has been 10 to 12 degrees above the –20 and –30 C temperatures that are normal at this time of year.

Light rain fell in Iqaluit, the territorial capital, as the daytime temperature hovered around 0 C on Monday. Environment Canada declared 2010 to be the warmest year on record there. In a rare sight for this time of year, Frobisher Bay has not yet frozen over entirely. Likewise, there is a lack of sea ice in parts of Hudson Bay, Davis Strait and other Arctic waterways.

Satellite images are showing a big change in the sea ice cover in the eastern Arctic, according to the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado. Director Mark Serreze said an unusual high-pressure system that is lingering over the eastern Arctic is driving temperatures up and preventing some bodies of water from freezing.

But Serreze said the lack of Arctic sea ice is causing a "feedback cycle" that is contributing to the warming conditions as well. "Now you've got all this open water where you usually don't have it, and that pumps heat into the atmosphere," he told CBC News. "So it's kind of a double whammy you've got working on there right now."

EDIT

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2011/01/03/arctic-sea-ice-climate.html

[jpak]

1. but...but...but..it snowed last week in NYC!!1111

In December!

[Gregorian]

2. Soon politics will seem quaint.

At some point we as humans are going to have to all grow up and work together. The days of choice are quickly coming to a close.