Not Just Record Kodiak High; Freezing Rain Pounds Interior AK; Wettest December Ever In Fairbanks

[hatrack]

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Sunday also brought records in Cold Bay, Alaska, where the community hit a high of 62 degrees. The previous record, set in 1990, was 44. St. Paul tied its record at 42 degrees. Unalaska, Alaska, spiked to 57.3 degrees by noon Monday after bottoming out at 50 degrees overnight. According to Rick Thoman, an Alaska-based climatologist, that morning low was warmer than the average low at any point in the year — even the heart of summer.

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In Fairbanks, north of the heat dome but still affected by moisture slung north along its periphery, Sunday delivered 1.93 inches of liquid-equivalent precipitation. That was the city’s wettest December day ever observed, and it marked the third-wettest day on record year round. Records in Fairbanks date to 1929.

Fairbanks saw its wettest December on record, too. The city, which has seen a substantial uptick in development and boom in population, has experienced about nine degrees of warming during December since record-keeping began. Winter rain in the Interior region of Alaska is becoming increasingly commonplace, but that doesn’t mean it’s welcome. The unusually warm temperatures and rainfall wrought havoc on roadways in Alaska. The mild weather melted snow and ice, which then quickly refroze upon roads thanks to surface temperatures well below freezing. The Alaska Department of Transportation described the ice as “cement atop pavement.”

Some 95 miles southeast of Fairbanks, the community of Delta Junction has found itself in dire straits. The only local grocery store there is closed indefinitely, after a partial collapse of the building’s roof from the weight of snow and ice. Hours later, one of the town’s two gas stations also saw its roof collapse under the weight of snow and ice. While gas pumps remain open, the convenience store is closed. The largest electric utility in the Interior region, Golden Valley Electric Association, reported widespread outages affecting more than 13,000 homes in the Fairbanks area on Sunday. By Tuesday, roughly 2,000 customers were still without power.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2021/12/28/alaska-record-temperatures-climate/