For the month as a whole, June was really quite similar to May for climate anomalies in Alaska, with the big picture involving an ongoing trough over the Bering Sea and western Alaska. The mid-atmosphere pressure anomaly was actually more pronounced in June than in May, and a larger fraction of the state was cooler than normal in June:
This was the third month in a row that was both cooler and wetter than the preceding 30-year median for the state overall, according to the NCEI data.
Just like last month, wind and clouds were both very abundant around the northern Gulf coast as well as the southwestern interior and the Alaska Peninsula.
Historically, the month-to-month correlation of statewide temperature anomalies is highest from spring (April-May) through summer (July-August), so it's not particularly surprising to see such persistence in the pattern.
As for the wider Arctic, there wasn't as much unusual warmth in June as I expected to see, given the extreme wildfire situation at lower latitudes in Canada, and in fact the largest warm anomaly for the month was in eastern Siberia. In terms of standard deviations, the town of Aasiaat on the west coast of Greenland took home the prize for largest anomaly, and over there the unusual chill was also linked to a strong and persistent upper-level trough.
This is the Summer of Green in Interior Alaska. Periodic warm sunny days interrupted by clouds and cool rain from the SW. The vegetation is prospering with this El Nino episode.
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