Notable Temperatures

Here's a brief round-up of temperature records and near-records in the past couple of days:

- Fairbanks max temp of 85 F on Wednesday was a daily record; Fairbanks reaches 85 this late in the season in less than 10 % of all years.

- Bettles max temp of 83 F on Wednesday was a daily record.  Also, the preliminary minimum temperature of 60 F this morning would be only the 3rd time that a low in the 60's has been recorded so late in the season.  The August record high minimum is 61 F.

- As mentioned earlier, Fort Yukon apparently reached 88 F on Wednesday, which would tie the record highest temperature observed there in August and also tie the highest so late in the season.  However, the Fort Yukon GHCN data is highly incomplete in recent decades.

- Deadhorse reached 72 F and Nuiqsut reached 77 F on Wednesday, both notable but not records.

- Delta Junction reported an overnight minimum of 66 F last night, but I'm not sure which historical station series to compare to for a possible record.

Over the border in Canada this morning:

- At Inuvik airport, the lowest hourly temperature overnight was 64 F; the record highest minimum so late in the season is 63 F (data from 1957-2005).

- Komakuk Beach, on the Arctic coast just across the border, reported a minimum hourly temperature overnight of 61 F, which compares to an August record highest minimum of only 56 F (data from 1959-1992).  The all-time highest minimum is only 62.

Finally, on the other temperature extreme, and on the southern coast (oddly enough!):

- Kodiak airport reported a temperature of 40 F this morning, a new daily record minimum temperature.  The temperature has been lower in the first half of August on only 4 occasions.