Climate Watch Barge caught after drifting loose in Bering Strait

NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center has issued the outlook for April, and for Nome and all of western Alaska the outlook calls for increased chances of above normal precipitation, while neither above or below normal temperatures are favored. This does not mean that temperatures are expected to be “near normal.” Rather, NOAA’s assessment is that there is no tilt in the odds either way. For reference, average April temperatures in the region vary from the teens in the Bering Strait and on St. Lawrence Island to the lower 20s in eastern Norton Sound. However, during April normal temperatures are rising rapidly.

At Nome, the average daily temperature increases from 14°F on April 1 to 31°F on April 30, by far the largest change in one month.

While 1940 is still the mildest April on record in the region, four of the six warmest have occurred since 2004. The coldest April was in 1985, and none of the top ten coldest have occurred since then.

Over the past 114 years, April temperatures in Nome have ranged from 60°F in 1940 to -30°F in 1918 and 1968.

Average precipitation for the month ranges from about half an inch at Unalakleet to twice that on St Lawrence Island. At Nome, the average precipitation of 0.74 inches makes this the driest month of the year on average. Most precipitation that does fall is snow, though it’s quite unusual for April to have more than a foot of new snow. However, across the region snow depths also typically reach the annual maximum levels in April, except for St. Lawrence and the Bering Strait coast, where maximum snow levels not infrequently happen in early May.