In Alaska, a white Thanksgiving is usually a given for most of the state. But not this year. The entire state is below normal for snowfall.
Brian Brettschneider is a climatologist in Anchorage who closely tracks Alaska climate data and trends. Alaska’s Energy Desk is checking in with him regularly as part of the segment, Ask a Climatologist.
He told Energy Desk editor Annie Feidt a white Thanksgiving is relatively rare for most of the U.S., but Alaska is a different story.
Interview Transcript:
Brian: Everyone’s familiar with a white Christmas, so I thought it would be interesting to look at the climatology of a white Thanksgiving. I pulled all the records for all the stations in Alaska and crunched some numbers and found that Thanksgiving typically- as most Alaskans know- is a full winter holiday, with snow on the ground, possibly new snow falling and cold temperatures.
Annie: What are the chances in Alaska for a white Thanksgiving?
Brian: There are two answers to that questions. One is, what does it look like this year? And then, what does the climatology look like? For the climatology, in Anchorage, there is about an 80 percent probability (of a white Thanksgiving) and then when you work your way northward from Anchorage it turns into basically 100 percent. McGrath has a 100 percent record, Fairbanks has a 100 percent record, Barrow has 100 percent and there are a few places in between that maybe have missed out once. And if you go down to Southeast, to Ketchikan, you’re looking at about a 15 percent probability.
This year, even though the entire state of Alaska is below normal for snowfall, there is at least one to as much as five inches of snow on the ground north of the Alaska Range. So Fairbanks is going to extend their 100 percent record. But from Anchorage south the snow is very meager, so a lot of places that typically have a white Thanksgiving, like Anchorage, aren’t going to have one this year.
Annie: And you said everywhere in the state is below normal?
Brian: Right, so every single station that has a published normal daily snowfall- if you compare what should have happened up to this point this year versus what has fallen, all of them are below normal.
Annie: And do we have any idea why that is?
Brian: There’s a lot of reasons, but we’ve had a stable weather pattern for the late fall and early winter. There just hasn’t been a lot of precipitation and there’s been more clear skies and it’s been a fairly stable pattern for an extended amount of time.
Annie: And how about you personally, are you in favor of a white Thanksgiving?
Brian: I think a lot of people here in Alaska are in favor of snow. It is Alaska and it’s supposed to snow. And here in town without any snow on the ground, it’s quite a bit darker. There’s a lot of recreational opportunities, snowmachining and skiing that people are having to hold off on until the snow falls. So I’m personally in favor of snow, a lot of people I know are in favor of snow. I get a lot of questions about when it’s going to finally snow and I don’t have a great answer for that.
Annie Feidt is the broadcast managing editor at Alaska Public Media. Reach her atafeidt@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Anniehere.
