Sea ice extent

Last week on Climate Watch we looked at a snapshot of Bering Sea ice extent. This week we look at the elevation of the ice extent so far this season.
Autumn ice extent was characteristically low, with only a slow increase until about Thanksgiving, when ice growth accelerated with colder weather.
However, after the first week of the month ice extent for the Bering Sea did not change much overall for nearly three weeks. Ice near the Alaska coast continued to grow but persisted south winds kept much ice from growing on the Russian side of the Bering, and there was some open water north of St. Lawrence Island and even into the Bering Strait until Christmas.
The change in the weather, to much lower temperatures and persistent north winds allowed for rapid expansion of the ice southward on the Alaska side of the Bering Sea, although the pack ice did not quite reach the Pribilof Islands before south winds returned.
In this week’s graphic, we see the ice extent as of January 17 was very close to the 30-year median and that this is well ahead of ice extent at this time last year. In fact, in late winter/spring 2025, the ice extent did not reach this level until mid-March.