The Atchuelinguk wildfire is burning in tundra in the lower Yukon River area north of Marshall in western Alaska (Yupik county). This is prime time for tundra wildfire: after snowmelt but before vegetation green-up, so last year’s dried grass and brush. #akwx#Wildfire#Spring2024
High temperatures in and around Alaska on Saturday. For some places in Southcentral, western and southwest mainland Alaska it was the mildest day of the year so far. #akwx#weather
Anchorage high temperature Saturday 60F (15.6C), the first 60F of the year. This the latest “first 60” since 2000 and about two weeks later than average. Since 1954, six years, all before 1981, the first 60 didn’t occur until June. #akwx@Climatologist49@EyeOnAlaska@EBecker@sbmorgan
The warmest 12-months in millennia for the Earth as a whole is right now. For the Arctic though, the warmest 12-months was in 2016, with the post-2019 years notably less hot.
I explore the "where" and "why" in the latest Alaska and Arctic Climate newsletter. #akwx#Arctic#Climate#Alaska
Fairbanks Airport 0.52 inches (13.2mm) of rain since Thursday afternoon, making this the highest 24-hour May precip total since 2012. Eielson AFB reported 0.68 inches (17.3mm) of rain. Hopefully this will put the kibosh on the accumulating pollen. #akwx#Spring2024@Climatologist49@leahwrenn@CarrieinFbx@anisian@KarenLikesRocks@debmcqueen@mivox
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