Alaska Statewide Summary
June 2008 | Cool and wet for much of state, warmth in the north
Weak low pressure held over the Chukchi Sea and the northwest corner of Alaska through the 11th. Down in the eastern Gulf of Alaska, weak low pressure persisted for near the entire month. Both areas of low pressure, although weak, were quite effective in bringing rather cool and rainy weather to the western and central mainland of Alaska. For the third month in a row, nearly all of the Alaskan Arctic had well above normal temperatures and precipitation. Weak high pressure developed over the eastern mainland starting on the 12th, and remained for the rest of the month. This resulted in below normal rainfall in the eastern Interior and most of Southeast Alaska. Indeed, parts of central Southeast Alaska had less than 50% of normal rainfall. A spell of consistent offshore winds on the 9th and 10th brought some of the finest blue sky and sunshine of the season to Southeast Alaska.
The opening days of June were rather cool in the west. On the 7th, up to 4 inches of snow fell on the Teller Road northwest of Nome. On the 9th, snow fell in the Pribilof Islands, and the temperature at Saint Paul Island dropped to 30ºF. And on the 11th, Nome had 2.4 inches of snow, the last snowfall of an extended winter season. It was uncommonly gloomy at Nome, where fog was observed for 15 days of the month.

A significant rise in temperatures developed over most of Alaska during the second and third weeks of the month, though the temperature never reached 90ºF at any reporting station. On the 14th, the inland portion of the central Arctic had temperatures reach the lower 70's.

During the last 10 days of the month, a number of thundershowers dropped heavy rain on specific areas. These events included the central Arctic on the 23rd, and again on the 25th, when 2.1 inches of rain fell at Imnaviat Creek. In the Interior, thundershowers brought an estimated 2 inches of rain to the highland portions of the Steese Higway between Twelve Mile summit and Eagle Summit on the 22nd. Similar thundershowers occurred on the night of the 28th and 29th over the Elliott Highway to the village of Old Minto and down to Wein Lake in the southern Interior. No significant flooding resulted.

Summer didn't consistently hold everywhere. On the 20th, snow and drifting snow hampered traffic on the Dalton Highway from 30 to 35 miles south of Prudhoe Bay. As the month closed, cloudy, cool and rainy weather developed over much of the Interior. On the 30th, it seemed hard to imagine that it was still summer in many Interior locations. Down on the southern mainland, a number of mountain lakes in the Chugach Mountains were still largely ice covered as June ended - much later than is normal. There was some playful talk of ice fishing there past summer solstice. Some of the heavy snows of winter still lingered in parts of the Chugach Mountains at the end of the month.

Mountaineers on Mount McKinley had unusually fine weather during June. Although significant snowfalls occurred during the first 5 days and the last 4 days of the month, there was little cloud cover in the high country for half of the days of June. Winds over the mountain were light for much of the month.

The rather cool and rainy weather in most of the Interior was an important factor in limiting the fire season, which continued to be very slow. Smoke from wild fires could be seen at only a few locations for just a few days. At the end of June, less than 8,000 acres had burned for the season. In a bad year, 50 times more acreage can burn by this time. Only 8 days had more than 1,000 lightning strikes. The largest daily total for lightning strikes was the 22nd, with 5,543 strikes recorded on the Alaska Lightning Detection System. The only significant fire during the month was the Venetie Village Fire in the eastern Interior. The fire was started on the 22nd within a mile of town. Vigorous containment efforts limited the growth of this fire to 650 acres.

The pack ice in the Bering Sea continued to rapidly clear during the first half of June, and the area of ice coverage continued to be well below normal. By the 15th, nearly all Alaskan waters up to 200 miles northwest of Bering Strait were ice free. Norton Sound was totally ice free by the 23rd, and Kotzebue Sound was beginning to open during the last week of the month. There was a large area of open water along the west Arctic coast for the first 3 weeks of June. On the 22nd, this open water closed as ice was blown in by westerly winds.

Sea surface temperatures in the Gulf of Alaska were about 1ºF cooler than normal in the east and near normal in the west. Surface water temperatures in the Bering Sea were near normal as June began. As the ice cleared in the Bering Sea, sea surface temperatures began rising rapidly, especially in eastern Norton Sound, where coastal waters reached 50ºF - warm enough for swimming - at month's end.
Statewide Extremes
Highest Temperature .89°F Chalkytsik (22nd)
Lowest Temperature .21°F Wainwright (7th)
Highest Average .61.5°F Annette Island
Lowest Average .35.5°F Point Hope
Most Precipitation .11.78" Ketchikan
Most Snowfall .47.0" 7,200ft camp, Mt. McKinley
Where are these sites? Click here for a map.
Temperature and Precipitation Departure Maps
Click on the graphic for an expanded view. For a high resolution image, please email us.
The weather in Alaska's ocean waters was quite gentle during June. Gale force winds blew somewhere in Alaskan waters on only 7 days of the month. There was some trouble with rough seas, however. On the night of June 4, a 983 millibar (29.03”) low moved southeastward from offshore Nunivak Island, and reached Bristol Bay on the evening of the 5th. Northwesterly gales blew in the Pribilof Island, Bristol Bay and Alaska Peninsula waters. On the morning of the 5th, the fishing vessel “Andromeda” encountered 10 foot seas on the north side of the Alaska Peninsula, between Port Moller and False Pass. The boat capsized and sank. The 2 members of the crew made way to shore without mishap. On the 24th, the fishing vessel “Aleut Kid” was swamped and sank after taking a rogue wave just south of the end of the Alaska Peninsula. The 5 people on board were promptly recovered by the “Aleut Lady”, captained by the father of the master of the “Aleut Kid.”
Posted: July 14, 2008

Summary information is compiled and produced monthly by the Fairbanks Forecast Office of the National Weather Service and the Alaska Climate Research Center, with contributions by Ted Fathauer, Anton Prechtel, and Martha Shulski. Portions of this summary appear in Weatherwise magazine. Preliminary climatological data are used for the graphical products. For official data, please contact us or the National Climatic Data Center.