Winter is almost here for the rest of the world, but in the Arctic, it was supposed to have already begun. However, thanks to a sudden rise in temperature, this timeline was interrupted. Rising by 20°C, ice is having trouble forming, cold winds are being stunted, which means that winter has been effectively called off for the short term.

This development is not exactly surprising considering the current trajectory of global warming, but it wasn’t expected either. As Futurism points out, November is when things should be settling down at the Arctic, and it was looking stable until a few days ago.

Right now, the amount of ice covering the seas in the region is at their lowest. Zack Labe, who is studying the Arctic and is currently earning his Ph.D. at the University of California released a series of Tweets about the sudden temperature phenomenon.

The images in the post show how the temperatures seem to be going in the other direction. Right now, the Arctic should be at -25°C. Instead, it’s holding steady at -5°C.

This is an alarming shift in the balance of the ecosystem, largely because numerous species depend on uniformity for their food and migration patterns. Much of the reason attributed to these changes are the shifts in directions of certain jet streams thanks to the Earth’s continued warming. This resulted in a blast of hot air being directed at the Arctic, Wired reports, which seems to have gotten stuck.

In addition, it would seem that the Earth’s natural filter for infrared radiation has been essentially block thanks to the higher levels of heat present within the atmosphere. Too much heat means a slower filtration process, which means more hot air trapped. As far as reasons for why the Arctic is experiencing a non-winter during its winter season goes, this is as likely as anything scientists have come with so far.