Extreme weather chokes off reindeer food supply in Swedish Arctic

Reindeer in Sweden's Arctic are hungry, the AP reports.

Why it matters: Climate change is altering weather patterns, choking off herds' food supply.

What's happening: The Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the globe.

• Unusually early snowfall in autumn was followed by rain that froze, trapping food under a thick layer of ice.
• "Rain-on-snow" events are having devastating effects: The food is still there, but the reindeer can't reach it.
• The animals grow weaker, and females sometimes abort their calves.
• Some retreat to the mountains where predators abound, and the risk of avalanches is great.

Elderly herders recall that they once had bad winters every decade or so.

• But Niila Inga, whose community herds about 8,000 reindeer year-round, said that "extreme and strange weather are getting more and more normal, it happens several times a year."

Go deeper: Key science report shows "unprecedented" changes to oceans and frozen regions