First Snow

The dramatic pace of seasonal change is making itself felt across interior Alaska today, with noon temperatures not far above freezing in many valley locations, and light snow showing up in some places.  A light accumulation was observed at UAF this morning, and it appears that a more significant snowfall is occurring just east of Fairbanks today.

Temperatures dropped into the single digits Fahrenheit in the Brooks Range this morning, including +3°F at Anaktuvuk Pass and +4°F at Toolik Lake.

Pretty September afternoon at @Toolik at ~2500' (760m) on the north side of the Brooks Range, where the morning lows was +4F (-15.0C). Not a record though, #OTD in 1989 & 1992 the low temps were below 0F. #akwx @Climatologist49 @uafairbanks pic.twitter.com/u19oTe7tO1

— Rick Thoman (@AlaskaWx) September 20, 2021

Bettles is sitting at 27°F at 1pm, and it will be interesting to see if they make it above freezing today.  The earliest date in September that failed to do so was the 14th, in the great September cold snap of 1992.  There's no snow on the ground yet at Bettles, but it looks like Coldfoot has a modest snow cover already.