Changing Sea Ice

Observation: The west wind blew the ice out to sea in Norton Sound. It's been a weird year for ice. Its been in and out, very unstable. This might be the start of string break up. If so, it happening early and fast. Last year we had ice through July, it messed up commercial fishing and there was no herring season. The ice is normally stable through the winter. Once it freezes it usually sticks around. If it does blow out when the wind switches it normally moves back in. This year it's steadily gone out and doesn't come back it has to refreeze all over again. There's a light layer of ice right now but not much and with the wind today I think that'll most likely get blown out as well. I think break up is usually in May. Victoria Kotongan