Snow Remaining at Elevation

Higher elevations in the interior now have a modest but unequivocal snow cover as a result of the chilly, wet conditions of the past week.  I was able to hike most of the way up Wickersham Dome this afternoon, but found myself wishing for snowshoes and eventually gave up on post-holing through a good 12" of snow, and more in places.  There were some patches of snow at 1900' elevation, a more-or-less continuous cover above about 2500', and then the depth increased rapidly above 2700'.  Interestingly very light snow was falling over the hill, although the cloud base was fairly high and visibility was good.

Including today, Fairbanks has remained below 50°F for 7 consecutive days, which is rather unusual for this early in the season; it happened before in 1935, 1987, and of course 1992.  Is it possible that Fairbanks won't reach 50°F again this year?  Yes, it's possible, though unlikely.  It probably won't get there in the next week, and the CPC 8-14 day forecast is decidedly cool.  However, there's still about a 65% chance of reaching 50°F in October or later.

Here is CPC's 6-10 day forecast:

and the 8-14 day forecast is below.  It seems like a long time since decidedly cool weather has persisted over Alaska.