May 2015 Hottest Ever Recorded In Alaska - 7.1F Above Historic Averages

[hatrack]

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 were record warm, including Barrow and Juneau.

The consequences of this warmth were myriad, including much early year melting of snow. As we have previously reported, North America saw its third lowest snow cover on record for May of 2015. And as you can see in the figure below, much of that was due to anomalously low snow cover across Alaska:



EDIT

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/06/09/alaska-just-had-its-hottest-may-in-91-years/

[Gothmog]

1. Man made global climate change is real