Summer 2023 precipitation around Alaska varied greatly. From ERA5 courtesy of ECMWF/Copernicus, summer rainfall was way above normal across northwest and Southcentral but well below normal across Southeast and eastern Interior. Much of northwest Canada was also dry. #akwx #ytwx #Summer2023 #Climate @Climatologist49

August average temperatures were warmer than normal almost everywhere in and around Alaska, with the eastern Interior and adjacent areas in the Yukon especially warm. Eagle had the warmest August on record, Tok second warmest, Fairbanks and Gulkana third warmest. Southeast was again mild, with Sitka airport having second warmest August. #akwx #ytwx #Summer2023 #ClimateMonitoring
@Climatologist49 @pat_wx

Northwest North America (Alaska, Yukon Territory, Northwest Territories) #wildfire this summer, in the latest estimates, has burned more than 3.4 million hectares (8.5 million acres), the highest since 2014, but well below the terrible summer of 2004. This year NWT fires accounts for 90 percent of the total area burned. #akwx #ytwx #ntwx #Summer2023

Sea surface temperatures in the oceans around Alaska for the week ending August 18 show #sst closer to normal than last week in the Gulf of Alaska while the western Bering Sea has warmer relative to the 1991-2020 average in NOAA//PSL/ESRL data. Eastern Bering Sea remains cool while the southeast Beaufort Sea remains unusually warm but not quite as far above average as in July and early August. #akwx #ytwx #ntwx #Arctic #Oceanography
@Climatologist49

Northern North America (Alaska, Yukon Territory, Northwest Territories) #wildfire has exceeded 2 million hectares burned for the second consecutive summer. Thus far this year, 89 percent of that total has burned in the NWT, 6 percent in the Yukon and 5 percent in Alaska. Last year, 59 percent of the area burned was in Alaska. #akwx #ytwx #ntwx #Climate #Summer2023
@Climatologist49 @weatherwest @ai6yr

Northwest North America wildfire updated as of August 9th. For Northwest Territories this is now the fourth largest season since 1980 in terms of area burned. Alaska and Yukon area burned is not large by historic standards but #wildfires have really ramped up since late July.
#akwx #ytwx #bcwx #ntwx #Summer2023
@Climatologist49 @chrys

Monday morning GOES-West GeoColor image shows widespread thick brown #wildfire smoke across portions of eastern Alaska, Yukon Territory and the Northwest Territories. Image courtesy NOAA/NESDIS/Star. #akwx #ytwx #ntwx #Alaska
@Climatologist49

Third installment of the July 2023 Alaska and Arctic #climate summary is now posted. For the #Arctic as a whole, this was the second warmest July on record. #akwx #ytwx #Summer2023 #ClimateMonitoring

@Climatologist49

https://alaskaclimate.substack.com/p/july-2023-temperature-and-precipitation

Dramatic contrast in July precipitation in and around Alaska in ERA5 courtesy of ECMWF/Copernicus using a normals 1991-2020 baseline. Parts of western and Southcentral #Alaska much wetter than usual, with some areas with twice the normal rainfall. Eastern mainland Alaska, Southeast and most of the Yukon Territory and Northwest Territories were considerably drier than average. #akwx #ytwx #ntwx #ClimateMonitoring #Summer2023
@Climatologist49 @McYukon

Pan-Arctic July 2023 temperature departures from the 1991-2020 average from ERA5 courtesy of ECMWF/Copernicus. Most of the Greenland Ice Sheet, northwest Canada and northern Alaska were exceptionally warm. Cooler than average July northeast Canada and most of the Scandinavian #Arctic. July temperature departures are always small over the central Arctic Ocean because heat goes into melting snow and sea ice.
#akwx #ytwx #ntwx #ClimateMonitoring #Summer2023
@Climatologist49

End of July update on northwest North America #wildfire. Yukon Territory area burned is below average and Alaska is second lowest past 30 years. in contrast, NWT wildfire area is the highest since 2014. Graphic courtesy of Fire Information for Resource Management System US/Canada (FIRMS). #akwx #ytwx #ntwx @evaholland @McYukon @Climatologist49

Northern North America #wildfire as of July 27. Alaska has now has one wildfire at larger than1000 acres (400 ha), but most all of the fire in the north remains in the Northwest Territories and Yukon Territory.
NWT: 1,295,186 ha (3.20 million acres)
Yukon: 68,826 ha (170k acres)
Alaska: 6,135 ha (15.2k acres)
#akwx #ytwx #ntwx #Summer2023
@Climatologist49

Sunday high temperatures (ºF) in and around Alaska. Near record high temperatures widespread from the North Slope and northwest Arctic into the Interior. Notes that there is minimal QC here and due to Fahrenheit/Celsius conversion and rounding issues some values here 1ºF different than the actually reported. Image courtesy NWS Western Region. #akwx #ytwx #ExtremeWeather #Summer2023
@Climatologist49

Alaska and vicinity 50-year total changes in July average temperature and dew point are similar but not identical, e.g. western Interior and northern NWT. Data from ERA5 courtesy of ECMWF/Copernicus.
#akwx #ytwx #ntwx #ClimateChange
@Climatologist49 @donaldjmorton @anisian

Elevated smoke from Northwest Territories #wildfires has moved west into #Alaska. In the eastern Brooks Range and northeast Interior it's thick to be obvious, as seen in this Wednesday morning FAA webcam image from Vashrąįį K’ǫǫ (Arctic Village).

As of Wednesday AM, wildfire area burned this season:
NWT 959,999 ha (2.37 million acres), most since 2014
Yukon Territory: 43,043 ha (106.4k acres)
Alaska: 766 ha (1.9k acres)
#akwx #ytwx #ntwx #Summer2023 #CanadaWildfire
@Climatologist49

Northern North America #wildfire update for area burned to July 11, 2023:
Northwest Territories 717, 656 ha (1.77 million acres)
Yukon Territory: 21,644 ha (53.5k acres)
Alaska: 630 ha (1557 acres)

For NWT, this is now the largest wildfire season in terms of area burned since 2017.
For Alaska, this is certainly the lowest area burned to this point in the season since at least the 1970s.
#akwx #ytwx #ntwx #Canada #Alaska #Summer2023 #ClimateCrisis

@Climatologist49

I've got a short post up summarizing the extreme heat in northwest Canada and far eastern Alaska July 7 and 8. #akwx #ytwx #ntwx #ClimateCrisis #ClimateMonitoring #ClimateDiary #ExtremeWeather

https://alaskaclimate.substack.com/p/extreme-heat-in-northwest-canada

@Climatologist49 @evaholland @andrewfreedman @yjrosen @AK_OK

Recapping the July 7 & 8th, 2023 northwest Canada/extreme eastern Alaska heatwave, here are selected (preliminary) maximum temperatures. Norman Wells 37.9C (100F) on July 8th is evidently the highest temperature on record so far north (65.3ºN) in Canada.
#akwx #ytwx #ntwx #ClimateCrisis #ExtremeWeather @extretemps @Climatologist49 @pat_wx @McYukon @evaholland @AK_OK

High temperatures Friday July 8th in the Alaska-Yukon borderlands:

Alaska
Eagle: 91F (32.8C)
Roberston River (west of Tanacross): 90F (32.2C)
Tok: 89F (31.7C)
Northway: 88F (31.1C)
Haines Hwy/US Customs: 87F (30.6C)
Chicken: 86F (30.0C)

Yukon Territory
Carmacks: 96F (35.5C)
Dawson: 93F (33.7C)
Whitehorse: 90F (32.4C)
Burwash Landing: 85F (29.3C)
Haines Junction: 84F (28.7C)

#akwx #ytwx #ExtremeWeather #Summer2023
@Climatologist49 @evaholland @McYukon @SilverSalmonAK

Kind of hot Friday early afternoon in the Yukon Territory and far eastern Interior Alaska with widespread mid-80s to 90F (29C to 32C). #akwx #ytwx

@Climatologist49