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
Percent area of the Arctic (land and sea north of 60ºN) with the annual average temperature higher than the 1951-80 baseline normal. Since 2015 effectively all of the Arctic warmer than the baseline. In a stable climate this would bounce around 50 percent with some multi-year consistency with more or less area being above/below normal. #Arctic#Climate#ClimateCrisis H/T @Climatologist49
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
Climate normals and the Arctic is this week's topic for the Alaska and Arctic Climate Newsletter. What does "normal" even mean in a rapidly warming environment? Well, that probably depends on your perspective. #Arctic#ClimateChange @Climatologist49
Arctic 12-month running temperatures as the difference from the 1951-80 average, updated through April 2024. The 10-year smoothed average shows the long term trend, the 2-year average captures some of the short term variability. OISSTv2.1 courtesy of NOAA/PSL/ESRL
ERA5 courtesy of ECMWF/Copernicus. #Arctic#ClimateChange#Climate @Climatologist49