ice extent
NSIDC has (preliminarily) announced the new record low ice extent for 2012.
On September 16, 2012 sea ice extent dropped to 3.41 million square kilometers (1.32 million square miles). This appears to have been the lowest extent of the year. In response to the setting sun and falling temperatures, ice extent will now climb through autumn and winter. However, a shift in wind patterns or a period of late season melt could still push the ice extent lower. The minimum extent was reached three days later than the 1979 to 2000 average minimum date of September 13.
This year’s minimum was 760,000…
[Update: as pointed out in comments, this forecast is for a town called North Pole, Alaska, not the geographic north pole, or even the magnetic one...I must apologize for my haste and sloppiness. On the other hand, this incident has cleared up a number of long-standing structural engineering questions I have had about Santa's Workshop...]
I have never checked a site like Weather.com for the North pole before, so not really sure how much to trust this forecast. If it is accurate, we are looking at some pretty balmy weather up there for the next ten days and perhaps a late finish for the…