Alaska Weather Blog and Alaska Weather Store
Everything is bigger and more powerful in Alaska. Well, most things anyway. Certainly weather. While some folks were marveling at and bickering over a Midwest low pressure system that bottomed out at 955 mb in Minnesota a few weeks ago there were several of about that depth passing through the last frontier and one since […]
Yes, bomb is a technical term in meteorology. In a general sense it is a rapidly-strengthening extra-tropical storm (the common low pressure disturbances that regularly spread rain, snow wind etc across the mid latitudes), and as the name implies, with the capacity to do damage, usually via wind. Also implied is the element of surprise. […]
After a once-in-a-decade-or-more dry spell for 2/3rds of Alaska the weather machine in evening the score. Here in Haines we enjoyed 12 straight days with no precipitation and some record warm afternoons (and, yes we did get the hay cut, dried and into the barn, but it did take 5 days to dry. See the […]
We’re looking ahead this coming week toward what looks like a remarkable September dry spell for much of Alaska, so here’s your chance to get those end-of-summer chores done that you’ve been putting off. If you’ve got some hay to cut, this could be your best (and last) chance. In the world of weather forecasting, […]
By the time we get to June, we expect the weather to settle down a bit…even here in Alaska. But weather would be boring if it were not for a few surprises now and then. Skagway was sucker-punched this day with a sharp front featuring wind gusts up to 52 mph (22 m/s) and a […]
With the rapidly lengthening daylight during the Alaskan spring comes much welcomed warmer weather. Also increasing is the daily temperature range, the spread between the afternoon high and the early hours low. This diurnal effect is easy to spot in spring and fall when there are enough hours of both daytime heating by the sun […]
After a fairly seasonable winter through the end of 2009 in Southeast Alaska, 2010 soon broke into what many old-timers call a “January thaw” that seems to want to be known as a “January-February thaw.” Ketchikan has been warm and wet, double the precipitation but ZERO snowfall in January. Juneau has had about 50 inches […]
Let’s look at the next level — Why does Southeast Alaska get these warm spells and what’s causing this one? The answer to this question is pretty straightforward, but still interesting. Low pressure systems that track north or northeastward off the coast of the panhandle enhance the warming influence of the Pacific Ocean by pumping […]
The Taku Blows I’m in Juneau for the Alaska Math and Science Conference and enjoying the sun and the beautiful blue sky. Blue sky does not necessarily equate to “fair” weather here. The Taku winds were blowing yesterday (10/13) and probably still are, though weakening. The photo above looks east across the Channel at Downtown. […]
