Arctic Sea Ice returns to 1979 levels

January 11, 8:45 AMBaltimore Weather ExaminerJustin Berk

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Recent satellite analysis shows that Arctic sea ice has
returned to 1979 levels.

That's going to confuse a lot of Global Warming alarmists.  I am taking a break from local weather today to talk about the extreme cold to our north. If you want the snow reports from yesterday's storm:

PA range of 6-10 inches in Poconos click here.  Metro NY ranged from 1-4 inches click here.  For more on the extreme cold in Alaska this week and the 'Great Hot Chocolate Experiment" video, click here.

I should make the point that sea ice is not the same a glaciers (such as in the Rockies or Greenland).  There is no impact on sea level.  Last year there was a great extent of winter ice, but the mainstream media clearly pointed out the disclaimer that it was 'young ice' or thin enough to melt in the summer.  Well some ice did melt ast summer, but not as much as the summer before, when fears were spread about the north pole becoming ice free.  That never happened.

This topic of polar ice caps can be misleading, since records only go back to 1979.  That is the magic year of reference you hear in most stories on this topic.  One of the main reasons is that in the early 1970s, many climatologists feared a new ice age.  It was a featured article in Time Magazine (Another Ice Age?) from June, 1974.  The link is below.  In fact, many winters in the 1970s helped to feed that fear.  This helped the push through congress to fund, develop, and then launch the Polar observer by 1979, when the ice was growing and extended at a great rate.  Like many patterns, it had peaked and began to retreat.  This part of the cycle is all that we have on record.  I have always contended that if you start taking temperature records in February, and look back in June, all you would see is warming.  A small snapshot is not a valid representation of geologic time.

To see more on this story by Denver Weather Examiner Tony Hake, click here.