Is it just me, or is there one more record to be broken? Looks to me like we have a real possibility at lowest Global Max?

Looking at the forecast for Churchill, it would seem like Hudson Bay is going to start melting out soon - http://www.weatheroffice.gc.ca/city/pages/mb-42_metric_e.html Or am I jumping the gun here?

John, is it really the case that the Arctic itself is absorbing less radiation? A couple thoughts to consider on that - 1) Most areas of the actual arctic basin are below or at average, the total area/extent being close to normal was driven by SOO, Bering and Baffin. 2) Is it just me, or are high pressures dominating more this year leading to more clear, sunny days. I lack the skills to really evaluate this empirically, but eyeballing the satellite photos from last year compared to this year seems to indicate yes. So even if the albedo was higher at the surface due to more ice cover, might it not be the case that more or equivalent radiation is being absorbed due to much more reaching the surface in the first place? 3) Snow cover also appears to be down, which may have an effect on melt at the edges of the basin as the summer progresses. I don't know how to quantify these observations, just wanted to throw them out there for discussion. Keith