December serving up baked Alaska and warming most of Arctic

By SETH BORENSTEIN
AP Science Writer

Much of the Arctic is in a burst of freak December warming. Temperatures in Alaska’s northernmost community hit 40 degrees Monday morning. That’s not only a record by six degrees but it’s the warmest that region has seen on record from late October to late April. Greenland a couple days ago hit 54 degrees, which is shirtsleeve weather. Scientists say some of it is random weather from storms and some of it is from low sea ice. The low sea ice is due to climate change. Open water acts as a heating pad in the Arctic in the winter.