Here's an update of Fairbanks standardized daily temperature anomalies thus far this winter. For those keeping score at home, the average temperature December 1st through February 3rd at the Fairbanks Airport is -9.4F, a substantial 3.4 degrees F below normal. October 1st through February 3rd the mean temperature is -1.4F, a whooping 4.9 degrees F below normal. The 1 to 2 week forecast from the Climate Forecast System has been consistent in keeping most of Alaska quite mild in the mean…so I expect that those impressive seasonal anomalies will decrease during the course of this month.
How about another comparative "statistic" Rick? Compare the area under the curve of the positive vs negative anomaly departures from the norm.
ReplyDeleteMight that reflect the effect on people (+-anomalies x duration) better than a degree of departure statistic? Maybe not, just curious.
For example, I may be able to handle a -4.9 deg below normal trend in winter better than a higher percentage of the time between dates at below normal temps. That's assuming the cold spells are offset by similar length periods of warmth, which your figure appears to show was not the case.
Gary