Thursday, January 16, 2014

Jan. 16, 2009, Revisited

Today is the 5-year anniversary of perhaps the warmest day ever recorded in Alaska during the month of January. On January 16, 2009, the high temperature in Fairbanks was 52°F – a daily and monthly record. In Anchorage, the high temperature of 50°F was the second highest on record for January and the low of 37°F and the daily average temperature of 44°F were the warmest on record for any day in the month of January. Many other stations recorded daily and monthly records. It was the third day in a multi-day Chinook event.

Here are three maps that show how remarkable it was. The maps show, 1) the actual high temperature on January 16, 2009, 2) the normal high temperature on January 16, 2009, and 3) the departure from normal of the high temperature on January 16, 2009. As you can see, there were pockets of areas a full 50°F above normal and at least half of the state was more than 35°F above normal.

Here in Anchorage the snow depth dropped from 17" down to 5". All of the snow disappeared from the roofs in town and many shingles were blown off. I spent several hours replacing missing shingles in the middle of January!




3 comments:

  1. I was in Alaska at this time and I remember all the accidents caused by the warm weather. I believe this was also remarkable due extended cold period shortly before it. In the course of a couple days it warmed from 40 below to 50 above if I remember correctly.
    Matthew K.

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    Replies
    1. You are absolutely correct Matthew. The 16-day period between 12/28/08 and 1/11/09 saw an average high temperature of -35°F and an average high temperature of -43°F in Fairbanks. In Anchorage, that same time period was the coldest since the Feb. 1999 cold snap. The 5-day temperature change in Fairbanks was 99°F.

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    2. Typo correction. It should read:

      You are absolutely correct Matthew. The 16-day period between 12/28/08 and 1/11/09 saw an average high temperature of -35°F and an average low temperature of -43°F in Fairbanks. In Anchorage, that same time period was the coldest since the Feb. 1999 cold snap. The 5-day temperature change in Fairbanks was 99°F.

      Delete