There is about 5 percent less sea ice in the Bering Sea now than in the 1950s. Permafrost is thawing, and as it does, the ground is subsiding and holes are opening in roads. The thawing has also led to landslides and erosion, threatening roads and bridges and causing local floods. Traditional ice cellars in northern villages have thawed and become useless. Melting sea ice has made hunting more dangerous for native people.
More precipitation falls as rain than snow.
But where it remains cold enough to snow, annual snowfall has increased, as would be expected in a generally warmer and therefore moister global atmosphere. The snow also melts faster, at least at low altitudes, and the intergovernmental panel forecasts more running and standing water. The new report of the intergovernmental panel said that tundra and taiga in North America may be reduced by two-thirds in the next century and that the southern boundary of the area covered by permafrost should shift northward by about 300 miles over the next 50 years, threatening roads, buildings, pipelines and other structures. But there is good news for the Arctic, too, and there may be more if the warming is a long-term one. With less snow and more rain in coastal areas, for instance, there are fewer avalanches.