Publication Date March 28, 2016 | Associated Press

Arctic sea ice reaches new record low mark for wintertime

Arctic
Photo: Weather Underground
Photo: Weather Underground

The growth of Arctic sea ice this winter peaked at the lowest maximum level on record, thanks to extraordinarily warm temperatures, federal scientists said Monday.

The National Snow and Ice Data Center says ice covered a maximum of 5.607 million square miles of the Arctic Ocean in 2016. That's 5,000 square miles less than the old record set in 2015 — a difference slightly smaller than the state of Connecticut