ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - An unseasonably warm winter has had a long run in Alaska, breaking records and turning plants green.
The temperature hit 62 degrees at Port Alsworth on Monday, tying the highest temperature ever recorded in the state in January, the Anchorage Daily News reported (https://is.gd/nXSsod ). Nome’s high of 51 degrees topped the town’s warmest January with a temperature typical of early June, according to forecasters.
In Anchorage, snow continued melting Tuesday as the state’s largest city saw 15 consecutive days with temperatures 32 degrees or higher. The official noontime high was 31 degrees Wednesday, although National Weather Service meteorologist Thomas Pepe said temperatures could rise as the day progressed.
Alaska is prone to occasional warm spells in winter, weather service meteorologist Sam Albanese said, but the series of unseasonably warm days rarely last this long.
According to the weather service, there were 17 days of temperatures 32 degrees or above in 1949, and 16 days in 1985.
Anchorage temperatures should be cooling in the next few days, according to Albanese. But he expects temperatures to still hover above normal. Freezing temperatures are still expected at night.
A shallow snowpack and warm temperatures have prompted the indefinite closure of Alyeska Ski Resort in Girdwood. Sled dog races have been canceled or rerouted.
There is no sign of precipitation in Alaska’s mainland for the next two weeks, said Rick Thoman, climate program manager for the weather service.
“As far as places that have lost most of their snowpack, there’s no sign that we would get into a pattern that would rebuild that to a significant extent,” he said.
Anchorage resident Christine Cikan said the meltdown has forced her to routinely bury her perennials in snow to keep the roots alive. To ease mobility, she also chipped away ice on half of her driveway.
Steve Brown, with the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service, said he lost part of his perennial garden last year when a thick freeze followed a defrosting. Alaska peony farmers have voiced concerns that another year of thaw-freeze could devastate their crops, said Brown, a district agriculture agent for the extension service.
“Everyone with a perennial garden is worried sick as well,” he said. If you get super cold before we get some snow, there’s going to be a lot of stuff lost.”
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Information from: Anchorage (Alaska) Daily News, https://www.adn.com
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