I'm melting...

Rico says it's not the Wicked Witch of the West, but Alaska, according to an article in The New York Times:

There’s a climate time bomb of sorts ticking away in Alaska, as in other northern lands. As temperatures rise, permafrost, the permanently frozen land that underlies much of the state, is thawing. When it thaws it starts to decompose, putting ancient carbon back into the atmosphere in the form of greenhouse gases.
Scientists are studying Alaskan permafrost, trying to get a handle on its future as the world warms. I accompanied a few of them to a part of the state where the permafrost is most threatened: the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge in western Alaska. On the sixty-mile helicopter flight from Bethel to the researchers’ field station, I had a bird’s-eye view of the beautiful tundra, a colorful mosaic of shrubs and grasses, lichens and mosses that is dotted with the deep blues of countless lakes.
Today we’re publishing my article about how warming is already having an effect on this beautiful landscape and the permafrost beneath it. I invite you to read and share the article, which is accompanied by spectacular maps that clearly illustrate the problem, fantastic photographs and even a video that I shot from the helicopter. 

Let me know what you think.
Henry Fountain, fountain@nytimes.com

Rico says it's okay, Trump won't believe this, either...