In the Alps up to 50 centimetres (20 inches) of new snowfall has increased the risk of avalanches.

BBC: Severe weather batters France

There is an emotionally satisfying explanation: maybe global warming is causing the increased snowfall.

FORBES: Is Global Warming Making It Snow?

Increased evaporation from the exposed sea should also mean more snowfall to compensate for the ice cap's losses (though together with rapid erosion at the margins this could increase the gradient of the ice cap, making it less stable.) But this is small consolation for another big fear: rapid thawing of the Arctic permafrost.

ECONOMIST: The science