09 May 2013

"Alaska Endures Record Cold While Still Buried Under Snow"

See? It's not just me thinking it should be warmer.

From MSN.com's weather department:

The central and eastern United States are not the only areas experiencing a colder-than-average spring. Alaska is also hanging on to winter's chill and snow.

The five-week period from April 3 to May 7 was the coldest in 109 years of record keeping at Fairbanks, Alaska, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).

Temperatures during this period averaged only 19.9 degrees and broke the old record for the same stretch of days set in 1924.

According to Expert Senior Meteorologist Joe Lundberg, "Fairbanks has not had a day above 50 degrees since Oct. 4, 2012."

The chilly streak was the fourth longest on record ... To go along with the cold, the city still had 10 inches of snow on the ground as of the midday hours on May 8, this was despite having a near-average amount of snow for the winter season at 68.5 inches. The average amount for Fairbanks is 64.5 inches.

 For most of Alaska, the deadline for removing studded winter tires is May 1st; this year, the State extended that to May 15 for this reason.

While most of the snow is gone from Anchorage proper, there's still a LOT of it on the mountainsides just above town.

Like a party guest who won't go home, winter is being stubborn this year.

4 comments:

Stephen said...

Don't worry. It'll be August, tomorrow.

Rev. Paul said...

Too true, Stephen.

ProudHillbilly said...

I had to turn the heat on. In May. Very annoying - usually I've had my windows open 24/7 for weeks now.

Rev. Paul said...

Understood, PH. The only thing predictable about the weather is that it will be unpredictable.