Alaska is having a rough summer. Following a July that was Alaska’s hottest month on record, erratic and unusual precipitation totals have caused downpours in some parts of the state and sparked fires and water restrictions in others.
14-day observed precipitation, Aug. 20
1 inch
or less
8 inches
or more
RUSSIA
Chukchi Sea
Bering
Sea
Nome
Prudhoe
Bay
Bethel
Alaska
Denali
Nat’l Park
Fairbanks
McKinley Fire
Swan Lake Fire
Anchorage
Yukon
Territory
Pacific
Ocean
Juneau
British
Columbia
300 MILES
Ketchikan
14-day observed precipitation, Aug. 20
Less than 1 inch
8 inches or more
RUSSIA
Nome
Prudhoe Bay
Bethel
Alaska
Denali
Nat’l Park
Fairbanks
McKinley Fire
Swan Lake Fire
Anchorage
Yukon
Territory
Pacific
Ocean
Juneau
British
Columbia
300 MILES
Ketchikan
14-day observed precipitation, Aug.20
Less than 1 inch
8 or more inches
RUSSIA
North
Nome
Fairbanks is on pace for one of the ten wettest months on record.
Bethel
Alaska
Denali Nat’l Park
Fairbanks
McKinley Fire
Anchorage
Swan Lake Fire
Pacific
Ocean
Anchorage has received
little precipitation and the air has been warm and smoky from nearby wildfires.
Yukon
Territory
Southeast Alaska, known as a temperate rainforest, has been below normal for rainfall in August, but Ketchikan just broke a 90-year record for daily rainfall yesterday with 4.85 inches of rain.
Juneau
British
Columbia
Ketchikan
300 MILES
August and September are typically the wettest months for Alaska. Northern Alaska, including Fairbanks, has been inundated with precipitation this month due to an atmospheric river event. Meanwhile in Southern Alaska, Anchorage received only trace amounts of rain in August, and only a quarter-inch of rain fell on Ketchikan, where water restrictions were being enforced until a heavy rain event Wednesday.
[More freak weather comes to Alaska, which has had an unprecedented summer]
This lack of precipitation is also contributing to wildfires. Alaska’s fire season typically ends in July with the onset of August precipitation, but last weekend, dry conditions and high winds sparked a new fire, the McKinley Fire, just north of Anchorage along Parks Highway, destroying about 50 structures. These conditions also ramped up the already existing Swan Lake Fire in the Kenai Peninsula that was mostly contained, spreading smoke across Anchorage and a large swath of South-central Alaska. In Anchorage, air quality has been among the poorest observed in the United States this summer.
Wildfire areas burning on August 19
To Denali National Park
ALASKA
Detail
McKinley Fire
Willow
Smoke
Smoke
Anchorage
Whittier
Smoke
Swan Lake
Fire
Seward
Homer
50 MILES
Wildfire areas burning on August 19
To Denali National Park
ALASKA
Detail
McKinley Fire
Willow
Smoke
Smoke
Anchorage
Whittier
Smoke
Swan Lake
Fire
Seward
Homer
50 MILES
Wildfire areas burning on August 19
To Denali National Park
ALASKA
Detail
McKinley Fire
Willow
Smoke
Smoke
Anchorage
Whittier
Smoke
Swan Lake
Fire
Seward
Homer
50 MILES
Wildfire areas burning on August 19
To Denali National Park
ALASKA
Detail
McKinley Fire
Smoke
Willow
Smoke
Anchorage
Whittier
Smoke
Swan Lake
Fire
Seward
Smoke
Homer
50 MILES
“In most years, the season really ramps up around the first of June and reliably dies down by the first of August. Occasionally, the fire season lasts well into August,” said Brian Brettschneider, a researcher for the University of Alaska at Fairbanks at the International Arctic Research Center. While in the Lower 48 it can take months for vegetation to dry out enough to fuel fires, in Alaska, black spruce forests can be susceptible to fires after only a few days of dry conditions.
This is not a record fire year for Alaska, but it is a significant one with more than 2 million acres burned. The amount of acres burned due to wildfires throughout Alaska’s recorded fire history is variable, but the frequency of fire seasons where 2 million acres or more are burned has increased in recent years.
Acres burned in Alaska
6 million
4
11-year
rolling
avg.
2
0
1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
2019
Acres burned in Alaska
6 million
4
11-year
rolling
average
2
0
1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
2019
Acres burned in Alaska
6 million
4
11-year
rolling
average
2
0
1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
2019
Acres burned in Alaska
6 million
4
11-year
rolling
average
2
0
1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
2019
The setup for this extended fire season was exacerbated by unusually warm temperatures early in the summer. Anomalous warmth in the past year, as well as warmer-than-usual waters in the surrounding Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort seas and the North Pacific Ocean fueled the warm and humid conditions experienced by Alaskans.
Sea surface temperature
anomaly, August 19
9˚F below normal
9˚F above normal
No
data
RUSSIA
Prudhoe
Bay
Bethel
Alaska
Anchorage
U.S.
CANADA
Yukon
Territory
Pacific
Ocean
Juneau
British
Columbia
Sea surface temperature anomaly, August 19
9˚F below normal
9˚F above normal
No
data
RUSSIA
Nome
Prudhoe Bay
Bethel
Alaska
U.S.
CANADA
Anchorage
Yukon
Territory
Pacific
Ocean
Juneau
British
Columbia
Sea surface temperature anomaly, August 19
9˚F below normal
9˚F above normal
RUSSIA
No data
Nome
Prudhoe Bay
Bethel
Alaska
U.S.
CANADA
Anchorage
Yukon
Territory
Pacific
Ocean
Juneau
British
Columbia
This “bathtub” of warm water surrounding Alaska helped contribute to higher-than-normal temperatures, especially overnight lows that trended higher than normal. In Anchorage, June and July were the warmest months ever recorded, with nighttime lows that rarely dropped below 50 degrees for most of the summer. In a city with buildings designed to keep warmth in, this has been problematic for residents.
Daily temperatures in Anchorage
On July 4, Anchorage set a record high of 90 degrees
90°F
Record
highs
80
70
60
Normal
temp.
range
50
Between June 21 and Aug. 18, the low temperature did not drop below 50 degrees, the second-longest stretch on record.
40
Record
lows
30
20
June 1
July 1
Aug. 1
Daily temperatures in Anchorage
On July 4, Anchorage set a record high of 90 degrees
90°F
Record
highs
80
70
60
Normal
temp.
range
50
Between June 21 and Aug. 18, the low temperature did not drop below 50 degrees, the second-longest stretch on record.
40
Record
lows
30
20
June 1
June 15
July 1
July 15
Aug. 1
Aug. 15
Daily temperatures in Anchorage
On July 4, Anchorage set a record high of 90 degrees
90°F
Record highs
80
70
60
Normal
temperature
range
50
Between June 21 and Aug. 18, the low temperature did not drop below 50 degrees, the second-longest stretch on record.
40
Record lows
30
20
June 1
June 15
July 1
July 15
August 1
August 15
Daily temperatures in Anchorage
On July 4, Anchorage set a record high of 90 degrees
90°F
Record highs
80
70
60
Normal
temperature
range
50
Between June 21 and Aug. 18, the low temperature did not drop below 50 degrees, the second-longest stretch on record.
40
Record lows
30
20
June 1
June 15
July 1
July 15
August 1
August 15
Anchorage has seen 14 nights dropping below 50 degrees this summer. The only other time the city saw so few was in 2016, when they had only 13 such nights. From 1952 to 2012, Anchorage had only five nights that failed to drop below 60 degrees. This summer, they have had 9 of those nights.
The warmer-than-usual waters are not expected to cool anytime soon, which will likely lead to a milder fall and early winter period. Alaskan firefighters who normally transition to firefighting in the Lower 48 in August continue to battle the fires back home.
About this story
Precipitation data from National Weather Service. Satellite imagery from NASA Worldview. Fire history data sourced from the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center and the Alaska Forestry Service. Sea surface temperature anomaly data from NOAA. Anchorage daily temperature data from National Weather Service.
Andrew Freedman and Tim Meko contributed to this report.
