Annie Feidt, Alaska Public Media - Anchorage
Ask a Climatologist: Fairbanks records early first freeze
Fairbanks gets the first freeze of the season about a week ahead of normal. Listen now
Ask a Climatologist: The mind boggling rain of tropical storm Harvey
If you took all that water that has just fallen on Harris County and you put it right over the urban part of Anchorage it would be about 60 or 70 feet deep. It's an extraordinary amount of water that's fallen. Listen now
Ask a Climatologist: Rainy…even by Ketchikan standards
Most places in Alaska are wetter than normal for August, but it's been especially rainy in Ketchikan. Listen now
Ask a Climatologist: August is Alaska’s rainiest month
August is the rainiest month in Alaska. But how rainy? That depends on where you live. Listen now
Ask a Climatologist: For summer in Alaska, 70 is the magic number
Juneau has had very few days above 70 this summer. In contrast, Anchorage logged its warmest temperature of the year Sunday, 76 degrees. Listen now
When the lights went out – Alaska’s great recession | MIDNIGHT OIL: Episode 06
Less than ten years after oil started flowing, Alaska’s economy cratered. The recession was quick and deep.
How Alaska decided to give its oil wealth to everyone in the state | MIDNIGHT OIL: Episode 05
In Alaska, we don’t pay income tax. We don’t pay state sales tax. But once a year every man, woman and child gets a cut of the state’s oil wealth. There are plenty of other oil states in the world, but Alaska is the only one that treats residents like shareholders and sends them dividend checks every year.
Ask a Climatologist: Remembering the record breaking July snow
Back in 1970 on July 19, it snowed 9.7 inches at the Summit weather station just south of Cantwell on the Parks Highway. Listen now
Ask a Climatologist: Utqiagvik ends above normal temperature streak
Residents of Utqiagvik have experienced above normal temperatures for the last 17 months. But a cooler-than-normal June will end that streak.
Ask a Climatologist: Summer solstice
Alaskans will celebrate the summer solstice at 8:24 tonight. The solstice is the point when the sun’s rays reach their highest latitude of the year. And also the moment when the days start getting shorter. Listen now
Ask a Climatologist: Alaska’s hottest temp ever matches Hawaii’s
Fairbanks hit 90 degrees last week for the first time in four years. The heat was very localized to the Tanana and Yukon river valleys.
We asked Brian Brettschneider, with our Ask a Climatologist segment, which areas of Alaska usually see the hottest temperatures in the summer. He says the warmest temperatures are almost always found in the Interior.
Ask a Climatologist: In Alaska, wildfire season can go from mild to severe in an instant
Wildfire season is off to a slow start in Alaska. But that could change very quickly. That’s because predicting how severe a wildfire season will be in the state is so tricky. Alaska’s Energy Desk is checking in with climatologist Brian Brettschneider each week as part of the segment, Ask a Climatologist.
Brettschneider says over the entire season, which runs through the end of July, no wildfire forecast is useful for Alaska.
Ask a Climatologist: Will May gloom bring summer doom?
May weather can't tell us much about what the rest of the summer will hold in Southcentral Alaska. Listen now
Ask a Climatologist: The early arrival of ‘peak summer’ in Alaska
If you imagine a chart, 'peak summer' is the top of the annual temperature curve or the warmest part of the year. In Interior Alaska, that peak happens much earlier than most of the rest of the country. Listen now
Ask a Climatologist: Sizing up Alaska’s summer
Summer in Alaska is full of endless daylight, a few mosquitoes and also some pretty amazing or terrible weather, depending on the year. So how are forecasters sizing up the long term outlook for June, July and August? Listen now
Ask a Climatologist: Alaska wins the daylight prize
Alaska is once again the land of the midnight sun. If you live in Utqiaġvik (formerly Barrow), the sun won’t set again until August 2. Listen now
Ask a Climatologist: Tracking “green up” in Fairbanks
Trees and shrubs are starting to turn green in much of Alaska. But Fairbanks is the only community in the state with an historical record tracking the green up date. Listen now
Ask a Climatologist: April flips the warm switch in Alaska
After a cold winter, the month of April turned warmer than normal across the state. Listen now
Ask a Climatologist: Alaska’s lucky winter
Winter is more or less over in most of Alaska. And if you like that kind of thing — winter, that is — it was pretty decent in much of the state. But climatologist Brian Brettschneider, with our Ask a Climatologist segment said don’t get used to it. He said that “normal” winter was a sweet spot of cold in a much larger bubble of warm. Listen now
Ask a Climatologist: River breakup is all about spring temps
The National Weather Service issued its annual river breakup forecast this week. The forecast calls for a relatively mild breakup arriving about on schedule across Alaska. But what factors determine the timing and severity how it plays out? We put that question to climatologist Brian Brettschneider. Listen now