If you’re in Fairbanks, come by UAF for the Research Open House Thursday evening 4-7pm AKDT. I’ll be staffing a table in the Akasofu Building lobby, so stop by and let’s talk climate! #akwx#UAF#Alaska
Fairbanks Airport up to 66F (18.9C) through 5pm Wednesday, the highest temperature since September 9th. Webcam image courtesy explorefairbanks.com #akwx#Weather#Alaska
Unusually strong storm for mid-May moving across the Bering Sea Tuesday. Blizzard conditions already at St. Lawrence Island and likely later today in the Bering Strait. This gif courtesy NWS Alaska Region. #akwx#weather#spring2024 @Climatologist49@BakerRL75
Sea ice extent in the Bering Sea remains close to 1991-2020 median in NSIDC data. Large areas of open water north of the ice edge are normal this time of year. The lack of any significant areas of lower concentration ice in the southern Chukchi Sea is unusual for this point in the Spring. #akwx#Arctic#SeaIce#Climate @Climatologist49@ZLabe
Sea surface temperatures departures from the 1991-2020 average around Alaska for the week ending May 10, 2024. Northern Bering Sea mostly below normal and partially sea ice influenced. Eastern Gulf of Alaska warmer than average. Data from OISSTv2.1 courtesy of NOAA/PSL/ESRL. #SST#akwx#Arctic
About a two mile strip of shorefast sea ice hanging on at Nome Saturday late afternoon. Beyond that open water, just visible as a thin dark blue line on the Nome CVB webcam looking across Front Street to Norton Sound beyond. 5pm weather 35F (+1.7C), slight sea breeze. #SeaIce#akwx#Alaska
Western Alaska had another high precipitation early spring this year, making six out of the past seven March-Aprils with high end precipitation. I've got a Alaska and Arctic Climate Newsletter posted that investigates "is this just random variation or is something different."
Ice on the Kuskokwim River at Bethel, Alaska moved enough to carry the tripod downriver and trip the clock at 840am Wednesday May 8. This is ten days earlier than last year and very close to the modern average date of break-up, but is almost a week earlier than the pre-1990 average. #akwx#Climate#Hydrology @Climatologist49
"The average temperature of the contiguous U.S. in April was 53.8°F, 2.7°F above average, ranking 12th warmest in the 130-year record. April temperatures were above average across much of the contiguous U.S., while near- to below-average temperatures were observed in parts of the West, northern Plains, Upper Midwest, Southeast and in small pockets of the Northeast. Virginia and West Virginia each had their fifth-warmest April on record.
The Alaska statewide April temperature was 27.2°F, 3.9°F above the long-term average, ranking in the warmest third of the 100-year period of record for the state."
Sea surface temperature departures from 1991-2020 normal in the high resolution OISSTv2 data from NOAA/PSL/ESRL. Eastern Gulf of Alaska remains warmer than normal, while sea ice influenced areas in the Bering Sea are cooler than normal. #sst#akwx#Arctic @Climatologist49
The sea ice melt season in the Arctic is underway and I've got a review of April conditions in a new Alaska and Arctic Climate Newsletter. #akwx#Arctic#SeaIce
Early Monday morning view of UAF and west Fairbanks from high atop the Geophysical Institute on Troth Yeddha'. Looking pretty brown now, but that will be changing in the coming week. 🍃🍃 Image courtesy Alaska Climate Research Center. #akwx#UAF#Fairbanks#Spring2024@leahwrenn@CarrieinFbx@anisian
Winter snowpack meltout for Fairbanks was April 22: this was the last day with an inch or more snow on the ground based on the NWS observations. Meltout was ten days earlier than last Spring and almost exactly the long term normal. There is no long term trend. #akwx#Climate#ClimateDiary@Climatologist49@CarrieinFbx@leepetersen@anisian
Green-up in Fairbanks is approaching. Using observed temperatures since March 1st and the forecasts for the ten days, our little model now showing a 60 percent of green-up late next week. The long term average green-up is May 8 and this year is sure to be earlier than that. #akwx#Spring2024#Phenology@CarrieinFbx@anisian@mivox@themattphelps@debmcqueen@leepetersen@dboo@Climatologist49
The Tanana River at Nenana is showing a lot of melt water on top of the ice Tuesday early afternoon. Continued mild weather this week ensures it will be an early break-up this year, but remember, the tripod has to move 100 feet to trip the clock. Image courtesy Nenana Ice Classic. #akwx#Spring2024#hydrology
Tappers working with OneTree at UAF report birch tree sap was flowing Monday afternoon on favored hillsides in the Fairbanks area. This is slightly earlier than recent years average. The annual round of our climate and environment has turned to Spring. #akwx#ClimateDiary#Climate#Alaska @Climatologist49@EBecker@CarrieinFbx@anisian@leepetersen@mivox@debmcqueen
Utqiaġvik, Alaska high temperature Tuesday of 36F (+2.2C) ties for the second highest temperature on record this early in the year. Only milder day was April 12, 1957, when the temperature reached 37F (+2.8C). #akwx#Arctic#Climate@Climatologist49@cinderbdt
Daily record high at Utqiaġvik Tuesday with the temperature up to freezing as of 1pm AKDT. The previous record 31F (-0.6C) was set in 1988, and April 16 had been the latest date in the Spring with a daily record high temperature below freezing. No more. Climate observation at Utqiaġvik since 1920. #akwx#Climate#Arctic @Climatologist49@cinderbdt@ajatnuvuk