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AK wildfire information and smoke forecasts

The Alaska wildfire activity almost ceased with the onset of more rainy weather in July. The UAF smoke page provides information on current fires as well as smoke forecasts.

Arctic Sea Ice Extent: August 6, 2020

August 6, 2020: Over the past week the sea ice has now decreased by a rate of 4.23% from the level on 7/30/2020 of 6.069 M km2 to 5.812 M km2 for this week. At this point, while still in a record low neighborhood, it is now a bit above the extents in 2012 (green line) and 2018 (gold line). For those predicting a record low year for 2020, we still have about a month left in the sea ice loss season.

May 2020 Statewide Report and Cities Summary Available

Our monthly statewide report for May 2020 is available here.

Our monthly 9 cities summary can be found here.
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Spotlight on Climate

Annual Summary Report 2019

2019 Alaska Climate Summary

Statewide 2019 Year in Review

  • New temperature records were set: 2019 was the warmest year in Alaska since 1949, with a mean temperature of 37.4 °F, breaking the previous record set in 2016 by 0.2 degrees. All first order stations recorded positive departures from normal annual temperatures.
  • The Panhandle and Northeast Gulf were drier than normal, contributing to the most significant drought conditions observed over Southeast Alaska in the 20-year history of the drought monitor.
  • The southern coast experienced below average snowfall totals every month during the 2018/2019 winter season. Conversely, Bettles, Nome, Kotzebue, and Utqiaġvik received above average snowfall for the season.
  • The 2019 Alaska wildfire season caused many residents across the state to be evacuated. There were 719 fires recorded throughout the warm season; 2.5 mio acres of land burnt. Alaska's statutory wildfire season was extended from Aug. 31 to Sept 30 because of high fire danger due to continued warm, dry conditions into September.
  • A new "blob", or large area of warm water observed in the Gulf of Alaska, named the Northeast Pacific Marine Heatwave of 2019, formed in May 2019 and reached its maximum size in August. It has since decreased in size and intensity, but is still one of the most significant events seen in the past 40 years.
  • The September minimum sea ice extent tied with 2007 and 2016 for the second lowest sea ice extent in the 41-year satellite record at 4.15 million square kilometers.

 

See also: 2019 NOAA Arctic Report Card

 

New Papers-

The mountain weather and climate of Denali, Alaska – An Overview

J. Appl. Meteor. Climatol., Download it here.

On the Precipitation and Precipitation Change in Alaska

Atmosphere Download it here.

On the Climate and Climate Change of Sitka, Southeast Alaska

Theoretical and Applied Climatology. Download it here.

Strong Temperature Increase and Shrinking Sea Ice in Arctic Alaska

The Open Atmospheric Science Journal. Download it here.

Book -

The Climate of Alaska

Produced by the Alaska Climate Research Center in 2007 by Martha Shulski and Gerd Wendler. Click here for more details!

 

For other papers please see our research page.