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As for high temperatures, the picture again is one of unprecedented and unremitting warm weather. The lowest high temperature this season was 24 degrees, which occurred on three different days. Every prior winter saw at least one day with a high temperature of 21 or colder by Dec. 15. Overall this is the third warmest winter through mid-December when all days are averaged together. The winter of 2002 was far and away the warmest on record but even that season saw an intense, albeit brief, cold snap in early to mid-December. Nonetheless, the first 45 days of the 2002-2003 winter were an amazing 5 degrees warmer than this year through Sunday.

Many Alaskans take pride in living and functioning in weather that causes our Lower 48 friends to cringe. But this year, Anchorage residents must relinquish our claim of enduring a harsh environment. Places like Lubbock, Texas; Lexington, Kentucky; Sante Fe, New Mexico; and Fayetteville, Arkansas already have endured temperatures colder than Anchorage this winter. Even some of our fellow Alaskans in Southeast towns such as Juneau and Skagway have seen colder temperatures than any observed in Alaska’s largest city.

On top of all that warm weather, Anchorage is already 18 inches behind the average amount of snow due by mid-December.

And Anchorage isn’t the only Alaska locale with below-normal snowfall. Fairbanks, McGrath, Kotzebue, St. Paul, King Salmon, and many other places are more that 10 inches beneath what is typical.

In fact, the folks in Dutch Harbor haven’t recorded any measurable snow at all this season – the latest they have ever gone.

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