According to the BBC and Fox News (among others), Greenland is experiencing heat of 40 degrees above average, causing a huge ice melt. Fox News is calling this a ‘Greenland ice crisis’.
This, of course, has little relationship to the facts. This is a weather event, not a climate event. And it is NOT unprecedented. The Danish Meteorological Institute and the National Snow and Ice Data Centre both provide up-to-date records of Arctic Ice. The data show that the Arctic melt is ahead of average, but behind the rate recorded in 2012. The data also show that the volume of thick ice remains higher than average.
High temperatures in the Arctic Circle are not unprecedented. Two examples of historic highs are:
So, in summary, this is another example of a weather event being identified as catastrophic and unprecedented, despite the fact that is is neither.