WASHINGTON — We already knew Alaska was having some crazy weather lately. That included a record 91 degrees in Eagle in May, the “hottest temperature ever recorded so early in the calendar year in our 49th state,” per our own Capital Weather Gang.
And now, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports that the state as a whole experienced its warmest May in the weather books. As the agency puts it: “The Alaska statewide average temperature for May was the warmest on record in 91 years of record keeping at 44.9 F, 7.1 F above average. The warmth in Alaska was widespread, with several cities (breaking records), including Barrow and Juneau.”
The consequences of this warmth were myriad.
North America saw its third-lowest snow cover on record for May. Much of that was the result of anomalously low snow cover across Alaska.
If there’s less snow cover in the high north, then more sun reaches the bare earth, which is darker and absorbs more of it, as David Robinson, a snow-cover expert from Rutgers, said last week. That increases the chance of thawing permafrost — frozen soil beneath the surface.
