CXAK57 PAJK 090109 RRA CLAKTN CLIMATE REPORT...CORRECTED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JUNEAU, AK 942 AM AKST THU JAN 9 2020 ................................... ...THE KETCHIKAN CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR THE YEAR OF 2019... CLIMATE NORMAL PERIOD 1981 TO 2010 CLIMATE RECORD PERIOD 1910 TO 2020 WEATHER OBSERVED NORMAL DEPART LAST YEAR'S VALUE DATE(S) VALUE FROM VALUE DATE(S) NORMAL ................................................................ TEMPERATURE (F) RECORD HIGH 96 06/25/1913 LOW -7 01/23/1916 HIGHEST 80 07/06 78 2 84 07/27 07/05 06/27 LOWEST 12 02/09 9 3 17 01/11 AVG. MAXIMUM 52.7 50.9 1.8 AVG. MINIMUM 41.0 39.3 1.7 MEAN 46.8 45.1 1.7 47.6 DAYS MAX >= 90 0 0.0 0.0 0 DAYS MAX <= 32 10 11.1 -1.1 3 DAYS MIN <= 32 75 85.3 -10.3 59 DAYS MIN <= 0 0 0.1 -0.1 0 PRECIPITATION (INCHES) RECORD MAXIMUM 196.03 2005 MINIMUM 88.45 1995 TOTALS 141.21 141.25 -0.04 106.59 DAILY AVG. 0.38 0.40 -0.02 DAYS >= .01 204 233.9 -29.9 212 DAYS >= .10 154 177.3 -23.3 161 DAYS >= .50 92 92.4 -0.4 77 DAYS >= 1.00 49 48.3 0.7 31 GREATEST 24 HR. TOTAL 5.60 10/15 DEGREE_DAYS HEATING TOTAL 6458 7262 -804 6049 SINCE 7/1 2644 3154 -510 COOLING TOTAL 13 9 4 70 SINCE 1/1 13 10 3 FREEZE DATES EARLIEST 10/16 LATEST 04/27 ................................................................. WIND (MPH) AVERAGE WIND SPEED 7.8 HIGHEST WIND SPEED/DIRECTION 39/140 DATE 12/26 HIGHEST GUST SPEED/DIRECTION 60/130 DATE 12/26 WEATHER CONDITIONS. NUMBER OF DAYS WITH THUNDERSTORM 1 MIXED PRECIP 0 HEAVY RAIN 22 RAIN 104 LIGHT RAIN 212 FREEZING RAIN 0 LT FREEZING RAIN 0 HAIL 0 HEAVY SNOW 0 SNOW 0 LIGHT SNOW 20 SLEET 0 FOG 199 FOG W/VIS <= 1/4 MILE 26 HAZE 7 - INDICATES NEGATIVE NUMBERS. R INDICATES RECORD WAS SET OR TIED. MM INDICATES DATA IS MISSING. T INDICATES TRACE AMOUNT. $$ ...ANOTHER WARMER THAN NORMAL YEAR AND LATE RELIEF FROM THE DROUGHT... AFTER A PROLONGED PERIOD OF DROUGHT WHICH SAW RESERVOIRS ACROSS SOUTHEAST ALASKA DRY TO THE POINT THAT MANY LOCALITIES WERE FORCED TO RESORT TO DIESEL POWER GENERATION, SIGNIFICANT RELIEF CAME IN THE FALL. AT THE START OF THE CALENDAR YEAR, OVER 35% OF THE REGION WAS CODED AS D1 OR IN "MODERATE DROUGHT". THE SITUATION WORSENED FOR THE SOUTHERN PANHANDLE IN THE SUMMER WHEN AN EXTREME DROUGHT WAS DELCARED, BUT NEARLY ALL LOCATIONS WERE CATEGORIZED AS ONLY D0 OR "ABNORMALLY DRY" BY YEAR'S END. THE LONE EXCEPTION IS THE JUNEAU AREA STILL BEING CATEGORIZED AS IN A MODERATE DROUGHT DUE TO LOW WATER LEVELS AT THE SNETTISHAM RESERVOIR. THE YEAR ENDED WITH ACCUMULATED ANNUAL PRECIPITATION RANGING FROM WELL BELOW NORMAL FOR YAKUTAT TO SLIGHTLY ABOVE NORMAL FOR KETCHIKAN. AN IMPORTANT POINT TO REALIZE IS THAT EVEN IF THE YEAR 2020 FEATURES ABOVE NORMAL PRECIPITATION, IT WILL STILL TAKE MULTIPLE YEARS TO RESTORE THE PANHANDLE TO EQUILIBRIUM. THE YEAR BRIEFLY STARTED OUT MUCH WARMER THAN NORMAL WITH JUNEAU AND YAKUTAT SETTING THE FIRST OF SEVERAL RECORDS FOR DAILY HIGH TEMPERATURES ON NEW YEAR'S DAY. EVEN AFTER A COOL DOWN TO BELOW NORMAL AT THE END OF THE FIRST WEEK THROUGH THE SECOND WEEK OF THE MONTH, AS A WHOLE, JANUARY TRENDED TOWARD NORMAL TO SLIGHTLY ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES. PRECIPITATION WISE, NEAR NORMAL SNOWFALL TOTALS AND GREATER THAN NORMAL PRECIP AMOUNTS WERE NOTED, PARTICULARLY IN THE SOUTHERN PANHANDLE. FEBRUARY WAS THE COLDEST AND SNOWIEST MONTH OF THE YEAR. WHILE AVERAGE TEMPERATURES TRENDED TOWARD NORMAL, LOW TEMPERATURES WERE BELOW THE STATISTICAL MEAN. THIS WAS PUNCTUATED BY SEVERAL SINGLE DIGIT LOWS FOR JUNEAU AND YAKUTAT DURING THE MONTH. WHILE THE COLD DID SUPPORT MULTIPLE SNOWFALL EVENTS THROUGHOUT THE REGION, PRECIPITATION WAS BELOW AVERAGE. SPRINGTIME OPENED UP WITH A HISTORIC MARCH FOR SE AK. BEGINNING ON MARCH 17TH, A 15 DAY STREAK OF DAILY RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES BEGAN. DURING THIS STREAK, AT LEAST ONE OF THE 4 CLIMATE SITES SET A DAILY RECORD NEARLY EVERY DAY. MULTIPLE LOCATIONS, TO INCLUDE COOP OBSERVER SITES, SET THEIR ALL TIME HIGH TEMPERATURE RECORDS FOR THE MONTH. FINALLY TO PUNCTUATE HOW UNUSUALLY WARM IT WAS, ON THE 19TH, KLAWOCK REACHED 70 DEGREES, WHICH WAS THE EARLIEST DATE FOR 70 DEGREES OR WARMER EVER RECORDED IN THE ENTIRE STATE. BY CONTRAST, APRIL WAS LIKELY PERCEIVED TO HAVE BEEN COLDER THAN NORMAL, BUT THAT PERCEPTION WOULD BE INCORRECT AND IS TESTIMONY TO HOW WARM MARCH REALLY WAS. GENERALLY, MOST LOCATIONS SAW AVERAGE TEMPERATURES ABOUT A DEGREE ABOVE NORMAL, AND THE TREND OF WARMER THAN NORMAL CONDITIONS WOULD CONTINUE THROUGH MAY. DRIER THAN NORMAL CONDITIONS PERSISTED THROUGH THE SPRING, WHICH AGGRAVATED THE ONGOING DROUGHT CONDITIONS. BY THE END OF MAY, EXTREME DROUGHT CONDITIONS HAD BEEN DECLARED IN THE SOUTHERN PANHANDLE, AND REGIONWIDE CONCERN WAS GROWING FOR AN UNCHARACTERISTICALLY DANGEROUS FIRE SEASON. SUMMER BEGAN WET WITH TEMPERATURES SLIGHTLY BELOW NORMAL BUT BY THE LAST THIRD OF JUNE A PRONOUNCED BLOCKING RIDGE WOULD ESTABLISH ITSELF OVER THE PANHANDLE USHERING IN WHAT WOULD BECOME A VERY WARM AND DRY SEASON. A PARTICULARLY HOT SPELL OCCURRED DURING LATE JUNE AND EARLY JULY. THIS WAS ESPECIALLY NOTICEABLE IN JUNEAU AND YAKUTAT WHERE MULTIPLE DAYS OF 80+ DEGREE TEMPERATURES WERE RECORDED. YAKUTAT'S HIGH OF 87 ON JUNE 27TH WAS THE ALL TIME HIGH FOR THE MONTH, AND WAS ONE DEGREE SHY OF THE ALL TIME EXTREME TEMP FOR THAT LOCATION. JUNEAU DID NOT REALLY CHALLENGE IT'S ALL TIME RECORD HIGH HOWEVER IT SHOULD BE NOTED, DURING THIS PERIOD, A SLIGHT SHIFT IN THE UPPER LEVEL PATTERN PUSHED DENSE WILDFIRE SMOKE FROM INTERIOR ALASKA AND THE YUKON OVER THE REGION, BLOCKING THE SUN SUFFICIENTLY ENOUGH TO KEEP MAX TEMPS IN THE 60S AND 70S RATHER THAN THE 80S FOR APPROXIMATELY 3 DAYS. AFTERWARD, TEMPS WOULD REBOUND BACK TO AT LEAST THE HIGH 80S FOR A FEW MORE DAYS. WHILE THIS PARTICULAR STRETCH WAS THE LONGEST IN DURATION FOR 70 OR GREATER TEMPS IN THE REGION, IT WAS NOT ISOLATED. SUMMER WOULD BE DEFINED BY ALTERNATING PERIODS OF SEEMINGLY LOWER THAN NORMAL TEMPS FOLLOWED BY RIDGING THAT WOULD PART THE CLOUDS AND ALLOW THE SUN TO HEAT THINGS UP. AS FAR AS RAIN, WHEN IT DID FALL, IT TENDED TO DO SO IN RATHER LARGE AMOUNTS. A PRIME EXAMPLE OF THIS IS KETCHIKAN RECORDING A RECORD ONE DAY RAINFALL TOTAL OF 4.85 INCHES ON AUGUST 20TH. THIS ALSO WAS NOTED WITH THE NUMBER OF THUNDERSTORMS IDENTIFIED AS BEING WELL ABOVE THE CLIMATIC AVERAGE FOR SE AK. IN FACT, ON JUNE 27TH, SATELLITE AND WEB CAM DATA IDENTIFIED A PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS STORM AND NWS JUNEAU ISSUED THE FIRST SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING IN IT'S HISTORY. WHILE THESE ARE FUN FACTS, SUMMER WILL LIKELY MORE BE REMEMBERED FOR THE DRY CONDITIONS AND CONTINUED SEVERE DROUGHT, PROMPTING RED FLAG WARNINGS, BURN BANS AND INDEPENDENCE DAY FIREWORKS DISPLAYS BEING CANCELLED. FALL WOULD CONTINUE THE WARMER THAN NORMAL CONDITIONS ACROSS THE PANHANDLE, WHILE PRECIP WOULD START OUT AS A MIXED BAG, BUT BY NOVEMBER, DROUGHT RELIEF WAS ON THE WAY. REGARDING THE TEMPERATURES, SEVERAL MORE DAILY WARM TEMP RECORDS WOULD BE SET. PERHAPS THE MOST IMPRESSIVE OF THESE WAS WHEN JUNEAU REACHED 70 DEGREES ON SEPTEMBER 9TH. WHILE THIS WAS A DAILY RECORD, WHAT ACTUALLY MAKES IT TRULY IMPORTANT IS THAT IT WAS THE 47TH OCCURRENCE OF 70 DEGREES OR GREATER AT JUNEAU AIRPORT FOR THE YEAR, BREAKING THE PREVIOUS RECORD OF 42 DAYS SET IN 2004. AS THE SEASON PROGRESSED, THE REGION WOULD BECOME MORE LOCKED INTO A LONG TERM PROGRESSIVE PATTERN WHICH WOULD SEE CONDITIONS TURN CLOUDIER AND WETTER. WHILE THE INCREASED CLOUDS AND NATURAL DAILY LOSS OF DAYLIGHT WOULD BEGIN TO CONSTRAIN THE DAILY HIGH TEMPS TO AT OR SLIGHTLY BELOW NORMAL, THE SAME CONDITIONS WOULD CREATE CONDITIONS THAT WOULD NOT ALLOW FOR LARGE DIURNAL SWINGS AT NIGHT, THUS BY THE END OF SEASON, NIGHT TIME LOWS WOULD BE WELL ABOVE NORMAL. PRECIP WOULD BEGIN THE SEASON CONTINUING THE TREND FROM SUMMER WHEN RAIN WOULD COME IN GREAT QUANTITIES WHEN IT DID OCCUR, BUT WOULD STILL AVERAGE OUT TO BELOW NORMAL TOTALS. THIS BEGAN TO SHIFT IN NOVEMBER AS THE PATTERN WOULD ALLOW FOR LOW PRESSURE SYSTEMS TO CONTINUOUSLY CYCLE THROUGH THE GULF CREATING VARIOUS LEVELS OF IMPACTS TO THE REGION. THIS WOULD CREATE WHAT SOME LOCALS CONSIDERED TO BE EXCESSIVELY RAINY CONDITION. WHILE THE PRECIP WAS APPRECIATED, THERE WAS WELL BELOW AVERAGE SNOWFALL DUE TO THE TEMPERATURES BEING SO HEAVILY MODIFIED BY THE OCEAN AND THE PERVASIVE CLOUD DECK. EARLY WINTER WOULD SIMPLY BE A CONTINUATION OF WHAT THE LATE FALL WAS LIKE, WARMER THAT NORMAL AND SEEMINGLY ENDLESS DAYS OF RAINY CONDITIONS, WITH FEW CHANCES FOR SNOW. THE EXCEPTION TO SNOW THOUGH WOULD BE IN THE HAINES/SKAGWAY AREAS WHERE SUFFICIENT COLD AIR WAS ALLOWED TO DRAIN IN FROM THE NORTH TO GIVE THEM SOME DECENT SNOWS. THE GREATEST TOTALS WERE OBSERVED AT HIGHER ELEVATIONS ALONG THE HAINES AND KLONDIKE HIGHWAYS. THE INTERIOR LOCATION OF HYDER ALSO SAW ITS FAIR SHARE OF SNOWFALL BEING MORE UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF CONTINENTAL RATHER THAN MARITIME AIRMASSES. FOR MOST EVERYONE ELSE AT SEA LEVEL, THE WARMER THAN NORMAL TEMPS KEPT SNOWFALL TOTALS SO LOW THAT JUNEAU EXPERIENCED THE SECOND LOWEST AMOUNT OF SNOW ON RECORD TO BEGIN A SNOW SEASON. THE WARMTH WAS SO UNCHARACTERISTIC THAT MOST LOCATIONS ACTUALLY SAW COLDER TEMPERATURES AT TIMES IN OCTOBER AND NOVEMBER THAN ANY LOW TEMP EXPERIENCED IN DECEMBER. IN CONCLUSION, IT'S EASY TO SEE THAT 2019 WAS, FOR THE MOST PART, ANOTHER WARMER THAN NORMAL YEAR. WHEN FINAL STATISTICS ARE COMPILED, THE YEAR WILL LIKELY RANK WITHIN THE TOP 5 WARMEST YEARS FOR MUCH OF THE PANHANDLE. FOR PRECIPITATION, MOST OF THE YEAR SAW THE PANHANDLE PARCHED IN A DROUGHT THAT HAD EXISTED FOR MORE THAN A YEAR AND A HALF BEFORE THE YEAR BEGAN. THE LATE YEAR UPTICK IN PRECIPITATION DID RESULT IN A MAJOR MITIGATION OF REGIONAL DROUGHT CONDITIONS, PARTICULARLY IN THE SOUTHERN INNER CHANNELS. THE EXCEPTION TO THIS WOULD BE THE NORTHERN GULF COAST, WITH YAKUTAT RECORDING MORE THAN A 4 FOOT PRECIPITATION DEFICIT FOR THE YEAR. $$