Climatological Report (Annual)
Issued by NWS
Issued by NWS
000 CXAK57 PAJK 150709 CLAKTN CLIMATE REPORT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JUNEAU AK 931 PM AKST SAT JAN 14 2023 ................................... ...THE KETCHIKAN CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR THE YEAR OF 2022... CLIMATE NORMAL PERIOD: 1991 TO 2020 CLIMATE RECORD PERIOD: 1910 TO 2023 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 78 07/27 LOWEST 3 12/21 AVG. MAXIMUM 51.7 51.3 0.4 AVG. MINIMUM 40.7 40.8 -0.1 MEAN 46.2 46.0 0.2 45.0 DAYS MAX >= 90 0 0.0 0.0 0 DAYS MAX <= 32 16 11.5 4.5 23 DAYS MIN <= 32 69 81.5 -12.5 100 DAYS MIN <= 0 0 0.2 -0.2 2 PRECIPITATION (INCHES) RECORD MAXIMUM 196.03 2005 MINIMUM 88.45 1995 TOTALS 154.38 149.54 4.84 142.96 DAILY AVG. 0.42 0.41 0.01 DAYS >= .01 203 232.6 -29.6 248 DAYS >= .10 158 177.0 -19.0 177 DAYS >= .50 84 95.1 -11.1 90 DAYS >= 1.00 50 50.0 0.0 42 GREATEST 24 HR. TOTAL 4.51 STORM TOTAL 3.97 (MM/DD(HH)) DEGREE DAYS HEATING TOTAL 6780 6917 -137 7228 SINCE 7/1 2916 2962 -46 COOLING TOTAL 27 16 11 28 SINCE 1/1 27 16 11 FREEZE DATES EARLIEST 10/31 LATEST 04/29 ................................................................ WIND (MPH) AVERAGE WIND SPEED 8.0 HIGHEST WIND SPEED/DIRECTION 37/130 DATE 03/29 HIGHEST GUST SPEED/DIRECTION 59/140 DATE 11/23 WEATHER CONDITIONS. NUMBER OF DAYS WITH THUNDERSTORM 1 MIXED PRECIP 1 HEAVY RAIN 36 RAIN 126 LIGHT RAIN 243 FREEZING RAIN 0 LT FREEZING RAIN 3 HAIL 0 HEAVY SNOW 0 SNOW 4 LIGHT SNOW 25 SLEET 0 FOG 239 FOG W/VIS <= 1/4 MILE 32 HAZE 19 - INDICATES NEGATIVE NUMBERS. R INDICATES RECORD WAS SET OR TIED. MM INDICATES DATA IS MISSING. T INDICATES TRACE AMOUNT. $$ ...ABOVE NORMAL PRECIPITATION AND TEMPERATURES ACROSS SOUTHEAST ALASKA FOR 2022... THE OVER-ARCHING THEME FOR THE YEAR 2022 WAS THE PRECIPITATION...ABOVE NORMAL FOR ALL OF SOUTHEAST ALASKA AND A RECORD WET YEAR FOR JUNEAU. WHILE JUNEAU AIRPORT DID SEE A RECORD WET YEAR WITH 88.31 INCHES OF RAIN AND MELTED SNOW, OR 31.83% MORE THAN NORMAL. THIS, HOWEVER, PALES IN COMPARISON TO LITTLE PORT WALTER, KNOWN TO BE THE WETTEST LOCATION IN SOUTHEAST ALASKA, WITH 253.54 INCHES FOR THE YEAR. STILL, THAT DOES NOT COME CLOSE TO THE RECORD YEAR OF 1987 WHEN LITTLE PORT WALTER SAW OVER 292 INCHES OF PRECIPITATION. A QUICK CHECK OF DATA IN XMACIS REVEALS THAT NO LESS THAN 9 LOCATIONS AROUND SOUTHEAST ALASKA WITH CLIMATE DATA FOR 17 YEAR OR MORE SAW A RECORD WET YEAR IN 2022. ANNUAL SNOWFALL WAS LACKLUSTER, HOWEVER. OF THE SITES WE STILL HAVE SNOW DATA FOR, ONLY GUSTAVUS AND LENA POINT FINISHED THE PREVIOUS SNOW SEASON (2021-2022) ABOVE NORMAL AT THE BEGINNING OF APRIL. OTHER SITES WRAPPED UP THE 2021-2022 SNOW SEASON AT OR BELOW NORMAL WITH CRAIG VERY CLOSE TO A RECORD LOW SNOW SEASON. THE PRESENT SNOW SEASON OF 2022-2023 GOT OFF TO A SLOW START AND ALL SITES FINISHED THE YEAR BELOW NORMAL. WINNERS FOR 2022 INCLUDED HYDER AND ANNEX CREEK, EACH WITH MORE THAN 205 INCHES OF SNOW. AS MIGHT BE INFERRED FROM THE SNOW DATA, 2023 WAS UNIFORMLY ABOVE NORMAL WITH REGARD TO TEMPERATURES. THE ANNUAL AVERAGE TEMPERATURE AT THE 4 CLIMATE SITES RANGED FROM 0.2 DEGREES WARMER IN KETCHIKAN TO 1.4 DEGREES WARMER IN SITKA. IN SPITE OF THE WARMER THAN NORMAL YEAR, ONLY HOONAH REACHED 90 DEGREES OR MORE, WITH A DAYTIME HIGH OF 93 BEING RECORDED ON THE 4TH OF JULY AT THE HOONAH AIRPORT. MANY SITES SAW 80 TO 89 DEGREES AS THEIR WARMEST TEMPERATURES OF THE YEAR WITH ABOUT HALF AS MANY NOT GETTING PAST 79 DEGREES. FOR SITES NEAR SEA LEVEL, THE COLDEST TEMPERATURE RECORDED WAS AT THE JUNEAU FORECAST OFFICE WHEN THE OVERNIGHT LOW GOT DOWN TO -18 DEGREES ON THE NIGHT OF JANUARY 6TH. IN TERMS OF THE HIGHEST MEAN TEMPERATURE (THE AVERAGE OF THE DAILY HIGHS AND OVERNIGHT LOWS), SITKA AND ELFIN COVE BOTH TURNED IN VALUES RIGHT AROUND 47 DEGREES. YAKUTAT, GUSTAVUS, AND THE JUNEAU FORECAST OFFICE TURNED IN SUBSTANTIALLY COOLER NUMBERS, RANGING FROM BETWEEN 40.0 AND 40.9 DEGREES. AT THE 4 PRIMARY CLIMATE SITES, RECORD WARM DAYS WERE RECORDED IN JUNE, JULY, AND OCTOBER. IN SPITE OF THE WARMER-THAN-NORMAL YEAR, RECORD COLD NIGHTS WERE ALSO RECORDED - IN EARLY JANUARY, MID APRIL, AND MID DECEMBER. FRITSCH $$