While Alaska has experienced some unusual weather in the past few months, including not having the much-needed snow necessary for the annual running of the Iditarod dogsled race, temperatures for March went to the extreme, according to the Alaska Dispatch News.
The temperature at Klawock Airport, on Prince of Wales Island in the southeastern part of the state officially reached 71 degrees Fahrenheit on March 31. This was confirmed by the National Weather Service/Alaska Region.
The NWS is reporting this winter is only the second time in history that the temperature has failed to drop below -30 degrees Fahrenheit by April 1. The only other time this happened was in the winter of 1976-1977.
To make it clear, according to the weather service, before March 2016, the previous record-high temperature in Alaska was 69 degrees, recorded in Ketchikan on March 28, 1915.
To add to the weather records, for this winter, no community in Alaska reached a low of -50°F. The lowest temperature recorded this winter was at the aptly named Arctic Village; where the mercury plummeted to -47°F on December 24-25. But this is all right, because, after all, it was supposed to be winter in Alaska.
The University of Alaska Fairbanks climate researcher Brian Brettschneider says the cause of the new record temperature can be blamed on a ridge of high pressure in the region that had been forecast. But in looking at Alaska’s changing weather patterns, we can’t overlook the impact that climate change is having on our weather.
According to the National Climate Assessment, over the past 60 years, Alaska is warming twice as fast as the rest of the U.S. Annual temperatures have increased by 3°F while winter temperatures have increased by 6°F. Warmer spring temperatures have changed the time of the snow melt and thereby increased the length of the wildfire season.