01 January 2014

2013: A Year of Weather Extremes in Alaska

From the Alaska Dispatch comes a great article about the weird, the wacky, and the wild weather extremes we've experienced in the last twelve months.

Here are a few excerpts:

River ice strewn about the flood ravaged community of Galena on the banks of the Yukon River. May 29, 2013.
Ed Plumb / NWS 
As a whole, the state of Alaska rode a rollercoaster of wild weather in 2013. Devastating floods, record-breaking heat waves and massive storms were just a few of the extreme weather events to hit the state this year ...

2013 started off with a bang, with January bringing the coldest weather of the year to the state, the National Weather Service writes. The Interior community of Delta shivered through the lowest official temperature of the year, at 63 below zero on Jan. 28.

Anchorage saw its longest snow season since 1917, with the first snow recorded Sept. 28, 2012, and the last of the season on May 18, for a total of 232 days with snow in the 2012-2013 winter.

A chilly spring wreaked havoc on Alaska residents, and the National Snow and Ice Data Center later confirmed that the “spring from hell” was far colder than normal. 
Interior Alaska saw its coldest April since 1924, the NWS writes.

In Amber Lake, southwest of Talkeetna, a high of 97 degrees on June 17 nearly toppled the all-time high record of Alaska, falling shy by just three degrees ...

Fairbanks didn’t see a 60-degree day until May 20. A week later, the Interior community had hit 80 degrees and was well on its way to a sultry summer. All told, Fairbanks had a record 36-day stretch of temperatures of 80 degrees or higher, smashing the nearly century-old record set in 1915 of 30 days above 80 degrees in a summer.

Read the whole article at the link.  

5 comments:

PioneerPreppy said...

The data sure has sent the global warming bunch running hasn't it? At least in public as their own little group they are religious fanatics so nothing will shake their faith. I wonder if we are hitting the extreme cool period some climatologist are talking about.

Rev. Paul said...

Entirely possible, Preppy. These cold snaps & blizzards in the Lower 48 make it hard to convince folks that the Earth is melting. :)

Old NFO said...

I think Time is dusting off the minor ice age cover again...

ProudHillbilly said...

Don't like the weather? Wait a day or so...

Rev. Paul said...

NFO, I'm beginning to think the evidence supports that suspicion.

PH, that's true - our temps have been bouncing all over the place.