Climate change is a daily reality in Alaska. Those changes are happening across forests, tundra, in the Arctic ocean and in your backyard.
Brian Brettschneider is a climatologist in Anchorage who closely tracks climate data and trends in the state. Alaska’s Energy Desk is going to be checking in with him regularly.
Two all time temperature records were set on the North Slope on July 13 and 14. Deadhorse hit a record high of 85 degrees on July 13, exceeding the previous record by 2 degrees. The next day, Kuparuk recorded a temperature of 86 degrees.
“That is the highest temperature ever recorded in Alaska within about 50 miles of the Arctic ocean,” Brettschneider said. “So really unprecedented warmth for Alaska.”
The normal for Alaska’s northern coast is the mid to upper 50s. Brettschneider calls the last few years in Alaska “relentlessly warm.”
“In 2016, only one day in the entire year has been below normal and that was only a very small amount,” Brettschneider said. “So the temperatures have been warm from basically last Christmas onward and it’s really been peaking in the last few weeks.”
Brettschneider says the seasonal outlooks show it’s going to remain above normal in the state for the foreseeable future.
