Here’s a climate conundrum for Alaskans. Even as the home planet continues to sizzle through one of the warmest years on record — with unprecedented sea ice shrinkage and the warmest Northern Hemisphere ever seen — America’s Arctic state hardly warmed at all.
Alaska’s most recent climate stats once again show cooler average temperatures than those seen globally or even in the contiguous U.S. (Excepting Barrow and Alaska’s northwest Arctic Coast, where open water continues to keep things exceptionally warm.)
The figures published last week by the National Climate Data Center won’t exactly trigger head-for-the-bunker panic among the pocket-protector types in the supercomputer labs. Consider:
- Alaska had its 37th coolest October since records began in 1918, with a temperature 0.23 °F above the 1971-to-2000 average.
- Alaska had its 17th warmest August-October on record, with a temperature 2.03 °F above the 1971-to-2000 average.
- Alaska had its 24th warmest January-October on record, with a temperature 0.58 °F above the 1971-to-2000 average.
And yet. There is an incredible shrinkage by sea ice. The tender stability of permafrost. Shrubs expanding into tundra. Fewer subzero cold snaps. Longer droughts. Increased erosion. Deeper snows. Changes in ocean conditions. Clearly an astounding sea change has begun to flow across the Far North. What gives?
A disconnect between Alaska’s terrestrial climate and broader trends has happened before. Between 1977 and 2006 — an era of rising greenhouse gas concentrations and the highest recorded temperatures for the globe — the mercury at Alaska’s main weather stations averaged a minisule rise in temperature. Some places actually cooled slightly. The Alaska Climate Data Center tackles this issue in detail.
What does all this mean?
I’ve got two temperature gauges: one in my front yard, near the street, propped up in a lodgepole pine tree. The other lurks in an alcove by the back fence, overlooking a greenbelt park that often becomes a cold sump.
The difference between the two can be as high as 10 °F — much warmer near the street, much colder over the woods. Does the heat near the street disprove the backyard’s chill?