The most interesting buoy continues to be O-buoy 9, which had a wide lead of open water appear before its lens during a period of strong winds from the west. This lead swiftly was freezing over.
This process has continued, and the lead appears to be crunching closed. With luck we could watch how open water is transformed into the mini-mountain-range of a pressure ridge.
The reason for the refreezing is that temperatures have steadily remained below -12° C, despite the fact the sun barely sets up there, just off the north coast of Greenland. (To the right, on the horizon of the upper picture, and to the center, on the horizon of the lower picture, is a persistent object whose persistence proves it isn’t a cloud. It may be a mountain on Greenland, or only a massive iceberg.) The camera is drifting slowly east.
Most of the cold temperatures have shifted over to the Greenland side of the Pole.
This is occurring as a small but tight low brings a plume of milder air up to the Pole. As that mild air enters cold air exits, partly down towards Hudson Bay, and partly down through Fram Strait and then across the north Atlantic towards Europe. A second storm will move north of Scandinavia and continue the warm imports to the Pole and cold exports to Europe, which will be in for some cold spells. (Their Atlantic air will lack the warmth of the Azores.)
It is high time for the Pole to be warmed, for it was actually milder up there more than a month ago. Ordinarily it is rapidly warming at the Pole in May.
Temperatures at the North Pole Camera have been stuck around -10° to -15°, which was “mild” a month ago, but now is below normal. It makes for dull (IE serene) viewing, as nothing much happens except the snow swirls around a bit. Camera 2 showed a few clouds this morning, perhaps because the milder air was starting to push in. (The pressure ridge in the far distance will be interesting to watch, as the summer proceeds.)
However six hours later the situation was bright and clear, as viewed from camera 1.
The cameras are slowly drifting south, and it looks like things will be less exciting than last year, when the ice moved more swiftly and began breaking up. As of 2100z on the 19th the cameras were at 88.186°N 13.934°W. which is further west than usual.
Nothing much happens until June, when the melting becomes apparent. Two years ago a melt-water pool formed in front of the camera, and created such a hubbub that this site went from twenty views a day to five hundred. Every dog has his day, and I think that was mine. The Alarmists were in full cry about the North Pole melting, and I was a bore and pointed out it was just a melt-water pool, and likely would drain away shortly. It then drained away, which made me briefly look like a genius. That doesn’t happen very often, and if you think I didn’t relish the experience, you’re wrong. Here’s a link to that fun post:
NORTH POLE ICE MELT – WATCHING THE SUMMER THAW (June 29-July 28, 2013)
I doubt it will happen again, but the fact I’m again sitting here waiting for the ice to melt may indicate I have a secret hope that every dog has two days.
Sunrise's Swansong 
Reblogged this on the WeatherAction News Blog.
I’m glad you liked it. Thanks for reblogging.
By the way, I found that post on your site about the Nepal earthquakes being like the earthquakes in Nepal that occurred at the start of the Little Ice Age was most thought-provoking.
As a layman I confess to frustration, when it comes to the inability strict scientists seem to have when it comes to making connections my common sense makes. As far as I have been able to tell, they can’t even figure out how the sunspot cycle effects the weather, or how huge volcanoes effect the weather. To some degree I submit to their authority, but deep down I have doubts they truly understand subtle forces.
As a boy I recall there was an eclipse of the sun while I was staying by the ocean, and I was amazed by how high the high tide was. My simple, boyish common sense told me that when the planets line up, there is a power that tugs more. Because of that I can’t scoff at those who some scientists scoff at, when they say volcanoes, earthquakes and sunspots are influenced by how the planets line up and tug. Furthermore, because the planets have predictable orbits, certain line-ups repeat and theoretically could produce predictable tugs with somewhat predictable consequences.
However, until people can actually predict, the predictable consequences remain unknown and unpredicted, and if you sound like an astrologer if you even suggest predictable consequences might exist.
Therefore, even when you give me food for thought, I usually keep such thoughts to myself.