Diagnosis of Extended Cold-Season Temperature Anomalies in Alaska

Authors

Martha Shulski, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
John Walsh, University of Alaska Fairbanks
Eric Stevens, National Weather Service Fairbanks Forecast Office
Richard Thoman, National Weather Service Fairbanks Forecast Office

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2010

Citation

Published in Monthly Weather Review (February 2010) Volume 138, Issue 2 pp. 453-462

Comments

© 2010 American Meteorological Society

Abstract

During the early winter of 2002 and late winter of 2007, the Alaskan sector of the North Pacific Ocean region experienced record-breaking temperature anomalies. The duration of these episodes was unusually long, with each lasting more than 1 month: 55 days for the warm anomaly of October–December 2002 and 37 days for the cold anomaly of February–March 2007. Temperature departures over each respective period were the largest for the continental climate of interior Alaska (>10°C) and the smallest for the maritime regions of Alaska (