Looks like a steady stream of lows moving up from the Atlantic to the Arctic between now and the 18th, when the forecast-ed monster storm becomes dominant. It may be difficult to see any growth in extent for now. This may have to play out just to calm things down for a while in the Arctic, although at what cost?
NSIDC numbers for last several days.
2016, 12, 30, 12.669,
2016, 12, 31, 12.608,
2017, 01, 01, 12.608,
2017, 01, 02, 12.614,
2017, 01, 03, 12.705,
2017, 01, 04, 12.956,
2017, 01, 05, 12.932,
2017, 01, 06, 12.843,
2017, 01, 07, 12.852,
2017, 01, 08, 12.879,
2017, 01, 09, 12.847,