“Sea ice in the Arctic is about sixth lowest on record, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center. It’s far below normal “but we’ve seen worse,” Thoman said.”
December serving up baked Alaska and warming most of Arctic | AP News
Arctic sea ice extent is actually the 7,472th lowest on record, is very close to “normal” and the September minimum was up more than 30% from ten years ago.
ftp://osisaf.met.no/prod_test/ice/index/v2p1/nh/osisaf_nh_sie_daily.txt