Alaska Is Melting This Year. Unusually High Temperatures, Heavy December Rain

The temperatures shot past 60 degrees Fahrenheit in Alaska, and downpour occurred this month in Alaska.

Mountain range near the Kodiak airport, Alaska (Photo: Getty)

New Delhi: The US state of Alaska is experiencing high temperatures in winter, which is unusual in the state in the month of December. The temperatures shot past 60 degrees Fahrenheit in Alaska, and downpour occurred this month in Alaska, news agency Reuters reported. Normally, only snowfall takes place in the state at this time of the year.

On Sunday, a tidal gauge at the island community of Kodiak recorded an air temperature of 67 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the Reuters report. Quoting scientist Rick Thoman of the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy, the report said this was the highest December reading ever recorded in Alaska. Thoman called this phenomenon “absurd.”

The National Weather Service, Alaska Region tweeted that this was a new statewide temperature record for December.

🚨The Kodiak Tide Gauge station recorded an amazing 67°F yesterday. This is a new statewide temperature record for December. The Kodiak Airport recorded 65°F. This broke their monthly record by 9°F! The weather balloon launched at the same time confirms these amazing readings. pic.twitter.com/IuTPCGOrFU

— NWS Alaska Region (@NWSAlaska) December 27, 2021

December Extremes In Alaska

Also, the temperature of 67 degrees Fahrenheit recorded in Kodiak Airport is 9 degrees higher than the station’s previous all-time high, according to a Gizmodo report. According to the National Weather Service, Kodiak City also obliterated the daily record by twenty degrees. This was also the highest temperature recorded in Kodiak for any day in November, January, February, or March.  Earlier, a temperature of 45 degrees was recorded on December 26 in 1982, 1983, and 1984.

In addition to setting a statewide record, #Kodiak obliterated the daily record by TWENTY degrees, It is the warmest temperature on record for anytime between October 5th and April 21st...meaning this would've set monthly records in Nov, Jan, Feb, and Mar as well.#AKwx pic.twitter.com/N5mU3S4lst

— NWS Anchorage (@NWSAnchorage) December 27, 2021

Alaska is experiencing other December extremes as well. A record 62 degrees Fahrenheit at the Alaska Peninsula community of Cold Bay, and at least eight December days of temperatures above 50 at the Aleutian town of Unalaska are some instances of December extremes in Alaska, Thoman said. Cold Bay beat its own daily record by 18 degrees Fahrenheit, according to another tweet by the National Weather Service.

On Christmas this year, a temperature of 56 degrees Fahrenheit was recorded in Unalaska. This was Alaska’s warmest Christmas Day on record, the Reuters report said.

The Fairbanks area in interior Alaska was hit by its fiercest mid-winter storm since 1937. Quoting Thoman, the report said that the most serious implication for humans is likely from the massive amounts of precipitation dumped on interior Alaska.

December is usually a dry month in interior Alaska, because not much moisture is held by the usually frigid air. However, this has not been the case over the past few days.

On Sunday, there was heavy snowfall, which caused the roof of the only grocery store in Delta Junction to be caved in snow, the report said. Delta Junction is a town 95 miles southeast of Fairbanks.

After the heavy snowfall, a downpour occurred, which covered communities in the region with ice. This caused widespread power outages, and prompted closures of major roads and offices. The occurrence even got a nickname: Icemageddon, the report said.

According to the report, the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities warned that roads will remain treacherous for a long time because of the cement-like ice coating formed on them.

Over the past two decades, blasts of warm and wet mid-winter weather have become more frequent than they were in the years prior. This is a sign of climate change, Thoman said. He added that this is exactly “what we expect in a warming world.”

Single-day December heat records were also set by the US states of Montana, North Dakota, Washington, and Wyoming of late, according to media reports.