Ask a Climatologist: Anchorage, this gloomy spring is all in your head

Clouds hang over Hope, Alaska on May 19, 2018. (Photo by Annie Feidt/Alaska’s Energy Desk)

In Anchorage, complaining about the gloomy weather this spring has become something of a new pastime.

But is the weather really worse than normal?

According to Brian Brettschneider with our Ask a Climatologist segment, the answer is no.

Brettschneider says since April, the weather in Anchorage has been a few degrees warmer than normal and also drier than normal.

How is that possible?

Brettschneider says there haven’t been any really warm days. Typically Anchorage hits 60 degrees at least once by May 14, but the warmest temperature so far has been 59 degrees.

“So there can be this disconnect where there can be no really warm days, but we can still be above normal,” Brettschneider says.

Brettschneider says it’s also been a bit cloudier and significantly windier than normal.

“But for the most part, the story of this spring has been warmth.”

Brian Brettschneider is a climatologist based in Anchorage, with the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

 

 

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