Dear editors and article writers -  It's time to stop describing the current changes in Arctic and Alaska climactic and weather conditions by using the word "normal" as a descriptor -.. Instead please begin using the term "historic averages"..
The conditions you describe as normative are conditions that began changing radically 40 to 50 years ago!! Those "normals" are gone for at least many generations to come - and perhaps permanently. It is misleading to have readers think those are still current norms.