I can see that the website has some problems. The maps shown for 1980 and 2015 (back a few posts) have obviously erroneous snow cover for June 1, 2015 (and I found same for later dates in June). The website does note that land snow cover is not depicted in the 1980 map. However, there’s no way that large parts of North America and Europe would have that much snow cover in June last year or any other year since about the Ogg-Caveman presidency.
As to the problems with sea ice depictions, this seems to be explained earlier in the discussion.
Generally speaking, the peak of sea ice in each hemisphere can be expected around the spring equinox and the minimum is usually observed in the September of northern hemisphere and as late as April in the south because down there, it’s all ocean for the ice to conquer rather than enclosed basins like we have in the north (they chill faster thanks to contact with nearby frigid land masses).
And this may be widely known already around here, but northern sea ice has been in a general decline since 1980 while southern sea ice has been expanding its range at maximum. The hemispheres are often out of sync, but the circulation of the southern hemisphere prevents very much antarctic air from getting much beyond the ice margins so that more sea ice does not necessarily translate to colder spells in the populated parts of the southern hemisphere, whereas in the northern hemisphere, winter temperatures do tend to correlate with sea ice, especially in Europe with its maritime climate.
FWIW, I believe that we are in a steady-state climate era rather than any sort of plunge towards an ice age or runaway global warming. It’s warmer now than it was in most of the 18th and 19th centuries, and a little cooler in general than the peak of recent warming episodes. Nothing much is going on, despite all the hype, and it’s certainly not any real cause for alarm. The magnetic field is in a slow weakening cycle and trouble may lurk over the horizon there in terms of a reversal, but that could be hundreds of years away yet if not longer.
Generally speaking, the peak of sea ice in each hemisphere can be expected around the spring equinox and the minimum is usually observed in the September of northern hemisphere and as late as April in the south because down there, it’s all ocean for the ice to conquer rather than enclosed basins like we have in the north (they chill faster thanks to contact with nearby frigid land masses).
Going to slightly disagree with you there.
Arctic Sea Ice maximum occurs in late March - sometimes the first week in April, at an nominal latitude of 71-72 north.
Antarctic sea ice maximum occurs in mid-September at latitude much, much closer to the equator at -59 to -60 south.
Arctic sea ice minimum also occurs in mid-September - but at a nominal latitude of about 80 north.
Antarctic sea ice minimum is earlier that Arctic sea ice maximum - it normally is at its minimum extent in late February. Sometimes as early as Feb 12 though. At Antarctic sea ice minimum, the latitude of the edge of the sea ice is about 72 south altitude - right along the coast of Antarctica itself.
Since 1992, Antarctic sea ice has been increasing, and in June 2014, reached a record high “excess area” larger than that of Greenland’s entire ice cap.
Arctic sea ice minimums have been decreasing, but have not actually gotten any lower since 2011. They’ve been below average, but seem to be at a constant low point of -1.1 Mkm^2.
Arctic summer air temperatures at 80 north latitude during the summer have not changed since 1959. On the other hand, Arctic winter temperatures have gotten warmer.