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There is a high pressure parked over the mainland of Alaska forcing the low pressures to pass along the west coast all the way up to Barrow with warm air from the Pacific. We had a high of 37 yesterday here in Bethel and it's supposed to get back into the 30's again today.
Granted i was not one to say that 30 degrees is warm but after being here since July, i feel like i was just forced to move to California today.
Welcome to Alaska! :-)
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Odd how the rest of the lower 48 is getting cold and we are warming up.
That is very normal. Virtually any time Alaska is warm from December through March, the reason is because the north/south jet stream has moved it's Alaska terminal a little farther north than average; that dumps warm air on us, and pushes the cold air from Siberia that would normally be flowing into Alaska up farther north and it doesn't move south until it is over by Canada. It then pushes cold Canadian air south into the Lower-48. Usually of course that means Minnesota, the Dakotas, Wyoming and or Montana get a cold streak. It can also go farther east and a lot farther south too.
The upshot is, meteorologist from all over the US watch the weather in Fairbanks pretty carefully. Barrow is not as good an indicator, but often does fit into the pattern.
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Is this normal for Early January ? I was under the impression it would be hitting -40ish soon.
Have patience!
There have been winters when -30F was pretty rare. But usually we see -40F. And yes global warming has changed that from virtually always seeing a lot of -40, now it's not so much and some years doesn't even happen.
The +30 is unusual in Barrow, but yes it happens, along with the freezing rain, enough that nobody is overly excited. It happens on the south side of the Brooks Range virtually every year. Fairbanks has record highs in the mid-30s or even higher than that going back decades. Getting significantly above +30 is very difficult in Barrow though (flat land, ocean ice, and the wind all work against that happening).
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Anywho, guess i am gonna need to break out the shorts and sunblock here.
Hey, didn't everybody tell you (for what you probably thought was shock effect, and promptly dismissed it) that when it got warmer by 20 degrees (from any low you want to imagine, for example from -40F to -20F) you'd be out in a t-shirt and shorts moaning about the blasted heat wave???? Well, it just happened in early January instead of late February, that's all...
There is a high pressure parked over the mainland of Alaska forcing the low pressures to pass along the west coast all the way up to Barrow with warm air from the Pacific. We had a high of 37 yesterday here in Bethel and it's supposed to get back into the 30's again today.
Cape Lisburne is currently reporting 38 degrees and winds at 39 MPH gusting to 55 MPH.
It seems that every location on either side of Lisburne right now is a bit cooler and with less wind.
I suppose this is because it's Sunday, but the NWS out of Fairbanks has a forecast for Barrow on line that is not only pure nonsense, but is not what the local NWS folks are broadcasting on the marine radio. The online version says a high in Barrow of 20F. The local guy gave the current temp (28F) and sort of added as a side comment that we would probably see 32F today.
The weather maps from the NWS say the big high pressure area is supposed to be centered right on Fairbanks at some point today, but as the low pressure front rolls from Sibera across Alaska and down into Canada that high pressure area will move directly north past the Arctic Ocean coast and be directly north of Barrow by tomorrow. That's what they predicted as of 5 PM yesterday, so it might be significantly different today or tomorrow. In any case, the Interior is getting lower temperatures now, and very shortly so will the entire North Slope.
Whatever, while it's warm I gotta go dig my 4-wheeler out of the snow drift and start it up to give the battery a boost.
While it's warm in Barrow, it's freezing cold (in the single digits) with a large snowstorm approaching here in the western NC mountains. With any luck we will see a good foot of snow. The minimum expected is 6 inches, but it should be well over that.
Very strange thing, these warm temperatures in Barrow. Even after Floyd's explanation, I still don't totally understand it. As much as I try to study the weather, I just never can develop a solid grasp on the concepts. In any case, I guess you guys can enjoy a few days of tropical weather and take care of some previously frozen things. Like 4-wheelers, for instance.
I walked out today in sweats and a tshirt and thought it was Spring in Virginia Beach.
I had a grizzled old whaling captain in today who lamented loudly, in old grizzled captain fashion, that it was "too gotdamn warm out today!" Mind you, this is the same captain who said the same thing last week when it was -4 out. He said the blizzard we had here week before last with temps -56 below (with the wind chill) was "just gotdamn right!"
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