I saw a chart somewhere showing volume making some recovery too, though not on anything like the scale of extent - still among the lowest four or five years. This implies some seriously thin ice dominating the extent measures, but I need to find a little time to check on that.
Outside the Arctic, N. Europe is still being indicated to have a hard time extending snow cover as of mid-Feb. No signs of a sudden stratospheric warming to release the Arctic cold and set up a HP-dominated spring (which is generally ice-friendly until mid-May).
What really needs avoiding, but is looking increasingly possible in Apr-May 2020 (unless a major pattern shift is driven by stratospheric or tropical events), is a dominant pattern of LPs across the Arctic drawing from large areas of unusually high temps across Europe.
It's all about potential at the moment and at 2-3 month's range, so I'm not massively worried at this time, but the concern is there.
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