We are currently in a not-so-cold phase of an ice age - The Quaternary Ice Age.

BBC: Looking for the greenhouse signal

About 20 thousand years ago, during a colder phase in this ice age, sea level was up to 130 metres lower than at present.

BBC: Looking for the greenhouse signal

The ice that preserved his mummified corpse lay unmelted, 3, 250 metres above sea level, for more than 5, 000 years - since the world was in its warmest phase following the most recent ice age.

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Freeze dates are defined as the observed period when a lake or river was completely ice-covered, and break-up dates as the last ice break-up seen before the summer open-water phase.

BBC: Ice records reveal warming trend

And here the negative phase of the AO may be on the side of the ice.

ECONOMIST: Britain��s cold snap is explained by the Arctic oscillation

For most banks, it will be a phase change, a shift as fundamental as the shift from ice to water, or from water to steam.

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