Melting roads are just one downside of record-breaking Alaskan heat

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People have died attempting to cross ice that normally would be stable this time of year.

Temperatures in the 20s and 30s don’t may not seem warm, but for March in the Alaskan community of Utqiaġvik, the northernmost city in the United States, they’re extremely high. For the past week, the Arctic town has experienced temperatures 36 degrees above normal, when compared to average temperatures from the past three decades. In March, Utqiaġvik broke six all-time daily high records, too.

A lot of Alaska is unusually warm for this time of year, especially in northern and coastal regions near declining sea ice. “The average March temperature over the north slope and northwest Alaska was 18 to 24 degrees above normal for the entire month [of March],” says Rick Thoman, climate specialist with the International Arctic Research Center in Fairbanks. “Basically every single long-term climate site in Alaska north of the Alaska Range and on the west coast north of Bristol Bay had their warmest March on record, and some of those sites have more than 100 years of climate data.”

Kotzebue, in northwestern Alaska, hit 41ºF and logged its warmest March ever—9 degrees warmer than any other March, and 21 degrees above normal. “It was so warm that if this was April, it would be in the top 10 warmest Aprils,” adds Thoman. Anchorage reported seven days of record highs, and the Juneau airport reported 10. Klawock, in the southeastern part of the state, warmed to 70ºF on March 19—two weeks sooner in the year than the state has ever had 70-degree day.

These record-breaking temperatures are having some serious implications for humans in the state.

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Much more: https://www.popsci.com/alaska-record-heat



Alaska's melting ice has some serious consequences for human safety, economics, transportation. Deposit Photos