It reached 82 degrees in Anchorage on Saturday. Hot by Southcentral Alaska standards, and three degrees shy of Anchorage’s all-time heat record.
Weather forecasters says it’s only getting hotter over the next few days. Anchorage could even match the all-time record.
Luckily, it seems residents are coping just fine — at least along Goose Lake.
Annalisa Corona was at the lake with her kids and niece last Wednesday afternoon to break in their brand new inner tubes for the summer.
Corona said it didn’t feel especially hot to her, though staying indoors wasn’t working out.
“We’ve been having lots of water fights, drinking lots of water, and just finding anything to keep us cool…popsicles, things like that,” she said.
Others like Myrtle McLaughlin find the heat exceptional:
“No, this is not average, this is wonderful. This is over average. We don’t have temperatures like this,” McLaughlin said. “I’ve been here since 1978 and this is probably the best.” McLaughlin was at the lake with her great granddaughter and her neighbor.
National Weather Service meteorologist Michael Lawson expects these high temperatures to get even hotter over the next few days. Forecasts show that the Fourth of July and Friday are expected to be the warmest.
Lawson says official temperature records are collected at the airport, which isn’t the warmest area of town. Still, he says the current heat wave could come close to breaking the record high.
“If it’s going to be broken it’s going to be broken in a pattern very close to the one we’re in,” Lawson said. “It’s very hard to forecast for record temperatures but I think we’ll get pretty close to it.”
Lawson says if the wildfire smoke gets thick enough, however, it might keep the air cooler.
Temperatures over the weekend cooled off some Sunday night into Monday, and are set to heat up again toward the middle of this week.
While the heat lasts, Lawson advises “limiting outdoor activities, drinking plenty of water, wearing sunscreen, and try to avoid the peak hours when the sun is warmest. If you’re going to go outside do it very early in the morning or late in the day.”
You can find more updates on the weather and tips for staying cool on the Anchorage National Weather Service Twitter.
