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Continental
- The climate here is continental with large temperature variability, low humidity and relatively light and irregular precipitation. In general, summers are warm and sunny while winters are very cold.
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The climate in Juneau and the Southeast panhandle is a mid-latitude oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification Cfb) in the southern sections and an oceanic, marine subpolar climate (similar to Scotland, or Haida Gwaii), (Köppen Cfc) in the northern parts.
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- Overview
- Climate of Alaska
- Plant and animal life
Alaska is known for its variable climate, which is influenced by ocean currents. The western coasts are bathed by the Alaska Current, which carries relatively warm Pacific waters northward and westward along the southern Aleutian Islands. Those warm oceanic waters enter the Bering Sea and then flow eastward along the northern coast of the Aleutians. The mixing of the warm waters with the Bering Sea’s cold waters contributes to an atmospheric low-pressure centre known as the Aleutian low. The Arctic coast of Alaska, on the other hand, is bathed by a cold westward-flowing ocean current.
Several general climatic zones may be delineated in Alaska, excluding the great mountain ranges. The first zone—comprising southern coastal and southeastern Alaska, the Gulf of Alaska islands, and the Aleutian Islands—has average temperature ranges in the summer of about 40 to 60 °F (4 to 16 °C) and in the winter of about 20 to 40 °F (−7 to 4 °C). Rainfall varies locally from about 60 to 160 inches (1,500 to 4,000 mm). However, the Cordova-Valdez region and parts of the west-central panhandle have the state’s highest precipitation, 220 inches (5,600 mm) or more. At Valdez 200 inches (5,100 mm) of snow is not uncommon. The Aleutian Islands are noted for sudden high winds known as williwaws.
Alaska’s interior, a second climatic zone, has a continental climate influenced in the winter by cold air from northern Canada and Siberia. Average temperatures in the interior range from about 45 to 75 °F (7 to 24 °C) in summer and about 20 to −10 °F (−7 to −23 °C) in winter. It is not uncommon, however, for temperatures to reach into the 90s F (about 34 °C) in summer or drop into the −60s F (about −54 °C) in winter. Thunderstorms are common in the interior in summer, and severe lightning has caused forest fires. Anchorage has warmer winters and cooler summers than the rest of the interior and an annual precipitation amount of about 15 to 20 inches (380 to 500 mm).
Another climatic zone, the islands and coast of the Bering Sea, has summer temperatures of about 40 to 60 °F (4 to 16 °C) and winter temperatures of about 10 to 20 °F (−12 to −7 °C). Tempering influences of the Pacific dissipate north of the Pribilof Islands, and pack ice covers the area every winter. Storms originating in the North Pacific often strike the coasts of the Bering Sea and sometimes cause coastal flooding. The high winds and blizzards brought by such storms create hazardous conditions for the sea’s fishing vessels.
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Alaska is known for its variable climate, which is influenced by ocean currents. The western coasts are bathed by the Alaska Current, which carries relatively warm Pacific waters northward and westward along the southern Aleutian Islands. Those warm oceanic waters enter the Bering Sea and then flow eastward along the northern coast of the Aleutians. The mixing of the warm waters with the Bering Sea’s cold waters contributes to an atmospheric low-pressure centre known as the Aleutian low. The Arctic coast of Alaska, on the other hand, is bathed by a cold westward-flowing ocean current.
Several general climatic zones may be delineated in Alaska, excluding the great mountain ranges. The first zone—comprising southern coastal and southeastern Alaska, the Gulf of Alaska islands, and the Aleutian Islands—has average temperature ranges in the summer of about 40 to 60 °F (4 to 16 °C) and in the winter of about 20 to 40 °F (−7 to 4 °C). Rainfall varies locally from about 60 to 160 inches (1,500 to 4,000 mm). However, the Cordova-Valdez region and parts of the west-central panhandle have the state’s highest precipitation, 220 inches (5,600 mm) or more. At Valdez 200 inches (5,100 mm) of snow is not uncommon. The Aleutian Islands are noted for sudden high winds known as williwaws.
Alaska’s interior, a second climatic zone, has a continental climate influenced in the winter by cold air from northern Canada and Siberia. Average temperatures in the interior range from about 45 to 75 °F (7 to 24 °C) in summer and about 20 to −10 °F (−7 to −23 °C) in winter. It is not uncommon, however, for temperatures to reach into the 90s F (about 34 °C) in summer or drop into the −60s F (about −54 °C) in winter. Thunderstorms are common in the interior in summer, and severe lightning has caused forest fires. Anchorage has warmer winters and cooler summers than the rest of the interior and an annual precipitation amount of about 15 to 20 inches (380 to 500 mm).
Another climatic zone, the islands and coast of the Bering Sea, has summer temperatures of about 40 to 60 °F (4 to 16 °C) and winter temperatures of about 10 to 20 °F (−12 to −7 °C). Tempering influences of the Pacific dissipate north of the Pribilof Islands, and pack ice covers the area every winter. Storms originating in the North Pacific often strike the coasts of the Bering Sea and sometimes cause coastal flooding. The high winds and blizzards brought by such storms create hazardous conditions for the sea’s fishing vessels.
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The panhandle and southern islands are covered with Sitka spruce, hemlock, some Alaskan cedar, and other evergreens. The interior is dominated by black spruce (Picea mariana) and white spruce (P. glauca), which form the climax forest (a stable forest community that has adapted to its natural environmental succession). Birch, willow, and aspen trees are also prevalent in the interior.
The islands of the Bering Sea represent a small but unique Arctic maritime environment, typified by St. Lawrence, Nunivak, and St. Matthew islands and the Pribilof group. Those tundra-covered islands are surrounded by sea ice in winter and serve as protected refuges for the world’s largest herds of fur-bearing seals and sea otters, as well as sea lions and walrus. A protected group of musk oxen inhabit Nunivak Island.
The vast interior region of Alaska has a markedly continental climate, with frigid winters, and short but mild summers, during which there can be a few hot days. Here the dominant vegetation is taiga (coniferous forest).
Alaska’s climate varies wildly by region and season from a temperate maritime climate at 51º north to the Arctic climate of Utqiagvik at 71.3 º northern latitude. Depending on latitude, elevation or a location adjacent to sea or inland, a multitude of very different climate zones are predominant.
Sep 6, 2023 · The climate patterns of Alaska are primarily influenced by latitude, continentality, and elevation. The high latitude drives the seasonal pattern of available solar radiation. The Arctic has limited incoming solar warmth in the winter and an abundance of available light in the summer.
One of the features of weather in the continental climate zone is the formation of height-extended cumulonimbus clouds which bring summer showers, lightning and forest fires to interior Alaska. On farther north, in the Brooks Range and beyond, stratus clouds again become the dominant cloud cover.
May 24, 2024 · The climate of Alaska. Alaska has multiple climate zones that include an arctic type (Köppen ET) in the extreme north, oceanic (Köppen climate classification Cfb) to subpolar oceanic (Köppen Cfc) in the southeast and southwest, subarctic continental (Köppen Dfb, Dfc) in the interior and southcentral regions.
