North Pole Temperatures Expected to Soar 50 Degrees Above Normal as Christmas Nears
Scientists have attributed the warming trend to climate change.
— -- Santa Claus may want to wear a lighter coat this year.
A major storm near Iceland is producing 45 foot waves that will push mild air into the Arctic region, causing temperatures to reach 32 degrees, according to ABC News meteorologists.
Climate Central, a nonprofit news organization that analyzes and reports on climate science, says the warming may be part of an "unsettling trend" for the Arctic region, one they suggest is "being rapidly reshaped by climate change."
Last month, ABC News wrote about the Arctic Resilience Report, a study suggesting that the northernmost polar region characterized by cold winters and vast sheets of white ice is "undergoing rapid, sometimes turbulent change beyond anything previously experienced."
The study, produced by an intergovernmental forum of eight member countries that include the U.S., Canada and Russia called the Arctic Council, stressed that changes in the Arctic have "global implications." Those effects include feedback loops, a phenomenon that could lead to the rapid acceleration of ice melt and, in turn, raise global temperatures and contribute to sea-level rise.
Throughout 2016, rising temperatures around the world, most notably in the Arctic, have played a prominent role in the news.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO), an intergovernmental U.N. agency, sounded the alarm about climate change by suggesting that the years from 2011 to 2015 had been the the hottest five-year period on record.
The WMO also expects 2016 to shatter all single-year temperature records in terms of warmth, when all is said and done.
As a protective measure for Arctic-area seas in the U.S., President Obama enacted an expansive, permanent ban on oil and gas leasing in several Arctic and Atlantic Ocean areas earlier this week.
He designated a large portion of the U.S. Chukchi Sea and the vast majority of the U.S. Beaufort Sea as permanently off-limits to drilling leases, saying the risks far outweigh any possible, distant-future benefits.
ABC News' Max Golembo, Melissa Griffin, and Serena Marshall contributed to this report.