May was another mild month in Alaska. NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information ranked this month in Alaska as tied for fifth warmest in the past 95 years. As so often has been the case, the warmest parts of the state relative to normal were northern and western areas, with the Panhandle much closer to average. Very early sea ice loss in Kotzebue Sound helped boost temperatures in that area much higher, so much so that the average temperature of 43.3℉ at Kotzebue made this the mildest May of record, eclipsing the previous record of 40.6℉ set in 2016. May also wrapped up the warmest spring of record over most of northern and western Alaska. At Utqia-gvik (Barrow), the March-through-May average temperature of 13.6℉ was an amazing 10°F warmer than the 1981— 2010 normal. Overall for Alaska, the National Centers for Environmental Information ranked this as the warmest spring of record, knocking out 2016 from first place.
展开▼
