Alaska Climate Research Center
Arctic sea ice has likely reached its seasonal maximum. On March 22, sea ice extent reached 14.33 million square kilometers (5.53 square miles). The ice extent has been trending downwards since, suggesting that we are now in the sea ice melt season (see the corresponding update on the NSIDC “sea ice today” page). The 2025 seasonal […]
Seasonal sea ice maximum: Record low extent Read More »
See our full annual report for a more in depth summary of temperature, precipitation, and notable weather events in 2024. At the global scale, 2024 was the warmest year on record in the ERA5 reanalysis as per the Copernicus Climate Change Service, breaking the previous record from 2023. Like in 2023, mean temperatures in 2024
A glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) originating from Suicide Basin on the Mendenhall Glacier has caused severe flooding in Juneau neighbourhoods. Water levels in the Mendenhall River peaked around 3am on Tuesday, August 6, at 15.99 feet. This is over a foot higher than during last year’s record breaking outburst. Over 100 homes are estimated
Suicide Basin GLOF: Record flooding in Mendenhall Valley Read More »
The 2024 fire season is underway with numerous active fires in the Interior and western Alaska. Smoke has been affecting air quality in the Fairbanks area in recent weeks and some fires are visible from the UAF Campus. Our panorama camera captured the formation of a flammagenitus cloud, also known as a pyrocumulus, in the
Pyrocumulus visible from Fairbanks Read More »
Spring has sprung in Alaska and the seasonal snow pack is declining rapidly or already gone in most of the state. The time lapse below shows the view from the ACRC webcam looking south towards the Alaska Range. The animation loops through one image a day from April 15 to April 30 for 2024 (top)
End of snow season 2023/24 Read More »
The tripod on the Tanana river at Nenana fell over on April 27, 2024, at 05:18 am, triggering the clock that ends this year’s Nenana Ice Classic. The long standing tradition of betting on the day and time of the river break up at Nenana has produced a long and unique climatological time series of river
Break up on the Tanana Read More »
Update January 2023: Our annual report is available here. As 2023 draws to a close, we are compiling our annual review of weather and climate in Alaska. Our reviews are based on weather station data, which show the conditions at the specific location of each station, as well as spatially aggregated data products that provide
2023 in review: preliminary data Read More »
Have you ever wondered what it feels like to be inside an ice cloud? Visit Fairbanks in winter and you may find out! Ice fog is a kind of fog that consists only of ice particles and occurs at very low temperatures. The glossary of the American Meteorological Society states: “It occurs at very low
New research paper: Ice fog in Fairbanks is becoming less frequent Read More »
Flooding of Mendenhall River in Juneau destroyed multiple homes this weekend following a glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) from Suicide Basin at Mendenhall glacier. Mendenhall Lake crested at a record level of 14.97 feet late on August 5. Suicide Basin has caused annual GLOF’s since 2011, impacting homes and other infrastructure in the Mendenhall Valley.
Suicide Basin GLOF causes severe flooding Read More »
Another data point has been added to one of Alaska’s longest and most unique climatological time series: The tripod on the Tanana river at Nenana fell over on May 8, triggering a clock that records the time of break-up. The tradition of betting on the timing of the river break-up was started in 1917 and
Nenana Ice Classic Read More »