Climate Watch

By Rick Thoman

Alaska Climate Specialist Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy, UAF November will finish up much warmer than normal across nearly all of northern and western Alaska (more on that next week). But with that background, it will probably come as no surprise to you that with very little sea ice in the Bering and southern Chukchi Seas, the outlook for December is for greatly elevated chances for warmer than normal temperatures for the month overall. For the northern half of the Seward Peninsula and the Bering Strait the chances are greater than 70 percent for December average temperatures to be above normal.

Elsewhere in western Alaska the chances for a mild December are between 60 and 70 percent. The average December temperature ranges in the region vary from 3°F above zero at Pilgrim Hot Springs to 12°F above at Gambell.

With all the open water, the chances for above average precipitation (melted snow plus rain) are above 50 percent, but not dramatically so, since that will depend on the storm track and how much precipitation comes with the storms, since a couple of wet storms bring a month’s worth of precipitation.

Over the past 118 years, temperatures in Nome have ranged from 43°F on December 20, 1969 to -42°F on December 29, 1929, and at 2 p.m. on December 28, 1961, Nome Airport had a wind chill of —60°F. On New Years’ Eve 1974, Unalakleet hit -52°F.

Snowfall in Nome averages almost 15 inches, making December the snowiest month of the winter. Total snowfall over the years have ranged from 31 inches in 1931 to about one inch on several occasions, mostly recently in 1969.