Apologies if this has been posted here before. However, it seems that
the sea ice levels in the Arctic are getting to be remarkably healthy
this year.

http://www.dailytech.com/Article.aspx?newsid=13834

Oh, and before anyone accuses me of working for a big oil firm, or
accuses me of being a fan of cold weather (waves at Dave R.) I just
thought this item may be of interest if no-one else had linked to it.

BTW. If Will H. is reading this, I live in a village not too distant
from you, that has a large TV mast above it, is the site of a rather
large hotel run for her Majestys pleasure, and its been bl**dy
freezing cold here for the last ten days or so.