In March 2019, the Bering Sea had less ice than in April 2014. (Photo: U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)
That’s according to reporting in Hakai Magazine by environmentalist Tim Lydon, who looked at the effects of a warmer-than-average late winter in the northernmost state in the U.S. March temperatures averaged 11 °C above normal. The deviation was most extreme in the Arctic where, on March 30, thermometers rose almost 22 °C above normal—to 3 °C [ed: 37.4 °F]. That still sounds cold, but it was comparatively hot. The warmth is having a major impact on Alaskans. That heat thinned out the ice in Alaska, leading to deaths and a loss of infrastructure. in Alaska, ice is infrastructure. In the 2019 winter, at least eight people died when snowmobiles or four-wheelers they were using for transportation crashed through thin ice. And a lack of icepack is adding to lower than normal fish and crab counts as routes provided by the ice have disappeared.
— source commondreams.org | June 01, 2019