model depiction of 2m air temperature

Sudden summer: when interior warmth invades coastal Alaska

Thursday’s (6/20/19) high of 73F (23C) in Utqiagvik (Barrow) set a new all-June high temperature record for the station and exemplifies a phenomena I (and I’m sure others) call a coastal temperature spike, though the term has not made it into any meteorological glossaries that I know of. Highs were in the 30s F (~3C) […]

Long run of “just right” weather in SE Alaska

Thirteen days in a row with highs in the 70s F (21-26 C) (but not hotter) in southeast Alaska is quite notable. This is what just ended in Haines, and close to it in Petersburg and Wrangell. This graph shows the nice consistent dirunal (day-night) pattern of clear weather at Haines. (The data is from the airport, where on the 20th it did not quite make it to 70, but it did at the slightly warmer climate station, so that’s where the 13 days is).

Skagway, AK meteogram

Sea breezes: an Alaskan spring-summer staple

You’ve heard it said…Alaska has sooo much coastline… We do, about 34,000 miles (54,700 km) worth, and we have the perfect weather phenomenon to go with it: the sea breeze. The sea breeze is a local wind blowing from water to land arising from the relative warmth of the land vs. the water. Warmer land […]