Update on Cold

A few follow-up notes are in order regarding the unusual chill that much of Alaska is experiencing at present.

First, the highest temperature so far in Fairbanks is still 67°F, so we can make the following chart (20°C = 68°F).  It may be the middle of next week (June 11-12) before this threshold is reached, and that would be a record for the NWS/Weather Bureau era.

Yesterday Anchorage saw a high temperature of only 48°F, which made it the coldest summer day since 1973, and only 1°F away from the coldest summer day on record (June through August).

As for the far north, it's remarkable to note that Utqiaġvik and Deadhorse have not yet exceeded the freezing mark this spring/summer - although it happened back in January.

Deadhorse has been at or below 26°F for the past 3 days, and the last time there was a single day this cold in June was back in 1974.

It's even solidly below freezing well inland: the Umiat RAWS reported a low of 19°F on Tuesday morning - with a breeze! - and it hasn't been above 29°F since late Sunday evening.  Yesterday's high temperature of 26°F is the latest on record for such cold, the previous record being 1994 (May 29).  Data from Umiat is mostly complete back to 1976, and there's some data from 1945-1954.

Other locations dropped even lower on Tuesday; a couple of USARRAY sites reported a low of 13°F.

The animation below shows that the coldest air (based on 850mb temperature) is just now passing over the North Slope and will linger over western and then southern Alaska well into next week.