Ian Currie wrote:
One important factor is that the pattern of ice is dictated as much
by
circulation patterns as warmer or colder conditions. As we know on
this
group there has been a large are of high pressure to the west or even
north
west of the British isles for a long time. The depressions have been
less
deep than usual and the winds not so strong in this region. Strong
winds
will tend to break up the ice pack. With lighter winds the drift of
the ice
in the East Greenland current will be less impeded and the pack
allowed to
grow.

Ian Currie-Coulsdon



But the Baltic has much less than normal (and much thinner where it has
formed)
http://www.fimr.fi/en/itamerinyt/jaatilanne.html

which might help explain the relative lack of cold in the recent
easterlies. Compare 1986
http://www.fimr.fi/en/itamerikanta/bsds/1327.html
when it was almost totally covered, and much of the Danish coast was
frozen.

Edmund