This Anchorage Daily News article may be paywalled, but if you can read this piece by Seth Kantner, please do. It speaks to my heart on how climate change is impacting our beloved #Alaska before our very eyes. For some of us of a certain age, solastalgia, the sadness and mourning for the environment we loved but that's been lost, is very real.
With high impact extreme weather happening all around the world, I've put up a post with weather and climate highlights in Alaska this month. #akwx#Arctic
Good #wildfire news for the Anderson, #Alaska area: as of Saturday all areas are released from evacuation status except residences along the Teklanika River which are moved from "Go" to "Set" status. As always, basi' chox to the firefighters working to keep Alaskans safe. #akwx#Summer2023 @KrazyTheeAlaskan@rickirobin
FAA Alaska airport weather station online reporting status for Thursday July 27. Each dot is an FAA automated weather station: an "X" means the site is not reliably reporting online in the past 24 hours (or longer). About 30 percent of stations are out, but not randomly distributed. Same was it ever was, western Alaska gets the shaft. 😡 #akwx @Climatologist49
My lungs hurt. Feels like back when I still smoked cigarettes, and would get drunk and smoke a whole pack in a day. 😶🌫️😮💨
I’m assuming it’s related to the fact that I can look out my windows and see smoke haze in the trees, and if I step out the door everything smells like a campfire, and my car is covered in wood ash. #AKwx#wildfires#Alaska#MyAlaskaWx
Impressive south winds for mid-summer screaming down the Delta River in the Delta Junction area (eastern Interior, Tanana Dene country) Monday afternoon. The very high density of observations are part of the DoD's Ft. Greely Meso-Net. #akwx#Summer2023
Alaska generated #wildfire#smoke evident in the Fairbanks area Wednesday morning, with that distinct "fresh smoke" smell in the air. Air Quality Index mostly in the "Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups" in the immediate Fairbanks area and "Moderate" for North Pole & Eielson. Graphoc courtesy PurpleAir. #akwx#Summer2023 @Climatologist49@CarrieinFbx@tania
Fairbanks area temperature inversion now into the “strong” category. About 630am, Goldstream Creek valley bottom -27F (-32.8F) to +14F (-10C) near the top of Summit Drive. Those locations are about five miles apart with 600 feet elevation difference. #akwx#winter2024@CarrieinFbx@anisian@themattphelps@mivox@debmcqueen@leahwrenn
It's been a less than stellar summer for gardens in Anchorage. A commonly used measure of growing conditions are "Growing Degree Days", which are just a measure of accumulated warmth. There is a strong long term trend toward more summer warmth, but through Thursday Anchorage Airport, at 62% of average, had the lowest GDD accumulation to this point in the season since 2008 and 2nd lowest in the past 35 years. #akwx#Summer2023 @Climatologist49@EBecker@sbmorgan@EyeOnAlaska@KrazyTheeAlaskan
Sitka Airport appears to have briefly reached 82F (27.8C) early Thursday evening. This is the highest temperature on record at Sitka Airport in May: the previous record was 80F (25.7C) set on May 30, 1964. Other high temps in the Sitka area of Thursday included 83F (28.3C) at both the NOAA Tide Gauge and the Climate Reference Network Station. #akwx#ExtremeWeather#ClimateDiary#Alaska
Snow early Tuesday morning in the greater Glennallen area. Apparently just a brief dusting in the immediate Gulkana & Glennallen areas (Ahtna country) but from FB looks like 2 to 3 inches (5 to 8cm) of snow at Tolsona (west of Glennallen slight higher elevation). The Glennallen cooperative station reported 0.90 inches (22.9mm) precipitation Tuesday morning. This is the second highest daily precip on record there. Only higher was May 28, 2001 #akwx#ClimateDiary#ExtremeWeather@Climatologist49
Fairbanks Airport might well drop to -40F/C or lower a few days in the coming week. This is not at all uncommon. However, the average frequency of such deep cold days has dropped by more than half in the past century. It's more than a decade since there's been more than a week's worth of such cold, much less the long brittle winters of the mid-20th century. #akwx#ClimateChange#Arctic @mivox@CarrieinFbx@leahwrenn
Juneau, Alaska snowfall for January through Wednesday now up to 69 inches (175cm) at the airport. This is the 4th highest monthly snow on record (November 1994, January 2009 and February 1965 higher). January 22-23 snowfall of 34.1 inches (86.6cm) is the third highest three day total on record. Record is 42.4 inches (107.7cm) April 1-3, 1963. Daily snowfall observations at Juneau Airport since 1943. #akwx#ExtremeWeather#Winter2024 @ScoterD@spiraledu@AK_OK@Climatologist49