The Arctic is not like Vegas
 

I got that from an Earth Observatory article.
I lost the thread about the Arctic gaining ice that is somewhere on the front/second page here still. Anyway it appears that the ocean is sill warming judging by:

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=82591

"...Most surface waters within the Arctic Circle were warmer than average in summer 2013" and:
"By September, surface waters around the Barents Sea Opening (between Svalbard and Scandinavia) were about 5°F (3°C) warmer than they were in 2012.. Southern Barents Sea temperatures reached 52°F (11°C), which is 9°F (5°C) warmer than the 1977–2006 average."

The article was taken from a press release by NOAA:

http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/reportcard/

Which states:

"Temperatures were particularly low across the central Arctic Ocean, northern Canada and Greenland relative to 2007-2012 (a period of pronounced summer sea ice retreat), and were somewhat lower than the long-term average of 1981-2010.

Minimum sea ice extent in September 2013 exceeded the record low of 2012, but was the 6th lowest since observations began in 1979 despite the relatively cool summer of 2013. The seven lowest minimum ice extents have occurred in the last seven years, 2007-2013."

Presumably minimum excess is because more is less?

"Large land mammals convey a mixed message, with musk-ox numbers stable/increasing since the 1970s, while many caribou and reindeer herds currently have unusually low populations for the period 1970-2013."

Why would they be unusually low?
Something about moss being denied them by freezing conditions likely to occur with warmer weather?

It's enough to drive you dull.