~ Even compared to 2016, El-Nino driven warmest year in history
~It is unquestionably clear, warming at the core of the vortex is from over all thinner sea ice
From Jim Hunt's website :
There is not much doubt about how thinner Arctic Sea ice has become. It may be even less than estimated:
NOAA daily composites January 1 to March 19 2020, 925 mb temperature average. 2020 is clearly the smallest vortex area by millions of square kilometers. From this overview, there is not much guessing as to why this current winter is amongst the warmest in history. Again note, the smaller the vortex the colder its Cold Temperature North Poles can be. This is a distinct feature of our current climate. What is particularly interesting is the 2012 Canadian Arctic Archipelago crescent CTNP zone being nearly identical to 2020, a precursor to 2012 atmospheric pattern leading to all time lowest sea ice extent at end of summer. WD March 13, 2020