It’s -50 C, but 2019 still warmest year in Alaska
Bettles, Alaska hasn’t climbed above -18 C in nearly 10 days. Sunday’s high temperature was -44 C. And at -49 C this morning, the quiet community of roughly a dozen year-round residents set a daily record low. The frigid temperature rivalled the average winter temperatures found on the surface of Mars.
Bettles is not alone. Much of Alaska’s interior and far north are enduring lows of 37 to 48 degrees below zero. During the daytime, it doesn’t get much better.
Highs of about minus 40 are pretty common.
Cold of this magnitude is not that unusual for Alaska, although it’s actually becoming more rare as the climate warms. Bettles, for instance, averages 11 nights a year that drop below minus 40.
However, in1950, Bettles averaged closer to 20 nights a year with minus-40 degree lows.
It’s not an isolated trend. Across Alaska, the frequency of ultra-cold nights has been dwindling in recent years. In most places, they’re about a third less common.
Alaska is warming faster than any other state in the country. Climate Central, a nonprofit climate research and journalism organization, estimates the largest state in the U.S. has spiked by more than two degrees just since 1970, rapidly melting ice and redefining life for Alaska residents.
Despite the next-level cold, 2019 is still almost certain to go down in the books as the state’s warmest year on record. “I don’t see any way 2019 is not the warmest year on record,” atmospheric scientist Brian Brettschneider tweeted on Friday.