Anchorage residents have enjoyed a stretch of warm, sunny days, and more sun is in the forecast.
Brian Brettschneider, a National Weather Service climate scientist at the Alaska region headquarters in Anchorage, said Friday through Sunday, the official three-day average high temperature was 71.3 degrees, the hottest since the summer of 2022. Some parts of the Anchorage Bowl hit 80 degrees.
He said it’s nothing historic.
“If you were to pick out the one day or three days for that compared to any given year, it’s not really remarkable," Brettschneider said. "But we’ve had a fairly cool start to the summer in Anchorage, so it definitely felt warmer than it probably was.”
And, after Anchorage’s unusually rainy and cloudy summer last year, people are eager to soak it in.
Brettschneider said it’s mostly coincidence that Alaska will enjoy these warmer conditions while a major heat wave sets records across the Midwest and Northeast this week.
“That’s very far removed from what’s happening here," he said. "Things are never 100% unrelated, but in this case, it’s pretty close.”
In other Alaska weather news, Brettschneider said parts of the western interior and southwestern interior are getting thunderstorms. While the rain is good for hindering wildfires, lightning is not.
“Definitely something to keep an eye on to see if we’re able to get some more rain to keep those fires in check, or if things kind of heat up and dry out and the fires really start to take off,” he said.
The Alaska Interagency Coordination Center reported 19 of 23 new wildfires identified in its daily report Tuesday were caused by lightning.
Thursday is the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. Anchorage will get more than 19 hours of direct sun. Various types of twilight will be with us continuously overnight until astronomical night returns Aug. 25.
