Arctic Could See First Ice-Free Summer This Year

Do you still doubt global warming?

The distinct possibility that the North Pole could be free of sea ice -- for the first time in recorded history -- may become a cold reality this summer.

The Arctic's thick, resilient multiyear sea ice (frozen sea surface), which usually accumulates and lasts through the annual melting season, has started to give way to thinner, vulnerable first-year ice.

And if you do, you can bet what's going in California has something to do with it.

Many of the rustic inns, restaurants and art galleries that dot the rugged Central Coast are nearly deserted this weekend at the height of the tourist season as a huge wildfire threatens Big Sur.

The blaze had charred nearly 42 square miles as of Friday in the Los Padres National Forest and destroyed 16 homes in the Big Sur area, one week after it was started by a lightning storm that also ignited more than 1,000 wildfires from the Central Coast to the Oregon state line.

[...]Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger asked President Bush on Friday for a federal emergency declaration to free up more resources, saying most of the major fires were less than 20% contained. Some 11,000 firefighters from 41 states were battling the blazes.