The temperature is rising again in the Arctic. The sea ice area has dropped to one of the lowest levels on record, climate scientists reported last week. "The new Arctic Report Card tells a story of widespread and continued effects of a warming Arctic," said Jackie Richter-Menge of the US's Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory. "This isn't just a climatological   effect. It impacts the people that live there," she added. Scientists concerned about global warming focus on the Arctic because that is a region where the effects are expected to be felt first, and that has been the case in recent years. There was a slowdown in Arctic warming in 2009, but in the first half of 2010 warming was near a record pace. The monthly readings were over 4 degrees Celsius above normal in northern Canada, according to the report card. The report card was prepared by 69 researchers in eight countries. Researchers said last winter's big snow storms that struck some Northern countries were tied to higher Arctic temperatures. "Normally the cold air is bottled up in the Arctic," said Jim Overland of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "But last December and February, winds that normally blow west to east across the Arctic were instead bringing the colder air south," he said. "As we lose more sea ice... warming in the atmosphere can create more of these winter storms," Overland said. There is a powerful connection between ice cover and air temperatures, Richter-Menge explained. When temperatures warm, ice melts. When ice melts it shows darker surfaces underneath , which absorb  more heat. "That, in turn, causes more melting and on the cycle goes," she said. In September the Arctic sea ice extent was the third smallest in the last 30 years, added Don Perovich of the US Army Laboratory. He said the three smallest ice covers have occurred in the last four years. According to researchers what led to big snow storms attacking some Northern countries last winter?
Higher Arctic temperatures. The melting ice. The cold wind blowing west to east. Cold air bottled up in the Arctic.