Recent 2008 winter cold snap helping Arctic sea ice

Some folks in the north recently have been to put it mildly freezing their rears off. The past month of January 2008 has seen in the arctic temperatures well in the -30s C and -40s C range since late January, with the mercury dipping past -50 C in some areas. ref CBC article "Recent cold snap helping Arctic sea ice, scientists find" of Feb 15th 2008

Satellite telemetry image data is indicating that the cold snap is helping the Arctic ocean
ice increase in area by about 750,000 square miles, in comparison to average winter icepack area in the prior three years. For reference, the low in summer 2007 was 1.61 million square miles, so this recent cold snap icepack growth is not immaterial, but it is as yet unclear if this is any kind of trend. Not likely, more likely it is just a normal blip long overdue.

It is nice to get some real winter weather again, much like in the early 70's of my long lost youth. Makes for great skiing and other winter sports.