…if you’re not in the lower 48, the northern band of Europe, Siberia, and parts of India/China. Everywhere else it’s quite warm, especially over the Arctic.

See?

As the National Snow and Ice Data Center notes:

These regional contrasts in temperature anomalies resulted from a strongly negative phase of the Arctic Oscillation (AO). The AO is a natural pattern of climate variability. It consists of opposing patterns of atmospheric pressure between the polar regions and middle latitudes. The positive phase of the AO exists when pressures are lower than normal over the Arctic, and higher than normal in middle latitude. In the negative phase, the opposite is true; pressures are higher than normal over the Arctic and lower than normal in middle latitudes. The negative and positive phases of the AO set up opposing temperature patterns. With the AO in its negative phase this season, the Arctic is warmer than average, while parts of the middle latitudes are colder than normal. The phase of the AO also affects patterns of precipitation, especially over Europe.

The phase of the AO is described in terms of an index value. In December 2009 the AO index value was -3.41, the most negative value since at least 1950, according to data from the NOAA Climate Prediction Center.

So to summarize it, a natural oscillation has moved all that cold Arctic air down south, but the Arctic is incredibly hot compared to average and areas of the world that are outside the influence of the oscillation are little changed from recent years. I don’t think I need to add much else.