Unfortunately while the ice did grow/not shrink greatly this summer, all these Polar Vortexes are taking much of the cold away from the Arctic which means the Arctic sea ice has not been growing as much as it normally does this winter.
If things don't change soon, when the annual Arctic maximum sea ice extent is reached in another month or so, it might be smallest one observed (since satellite coverage in 1979).
Which of course means non-stop coverage by the media and fraudsters. They will of course ignore or downplay the 100 other things they got wrong (Like the Antarctic being a record extents)
Per the graph in this article:
https://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/
Yes, sea ice is below average...but it appears to be outpacing 2009/2010, 2010/2011, and 2011/2012. So, it seems to be doing ok....and certainly within the 2 standard deviation band on the graph.
I’m sure you are right - no matter what the sea ice extent, the GW cultists will howl that it means we are doomed. But I would like to think that fewer people would buy into it - after paying huge utility bills to heat their houses this winter.