Alaska climate crisis UPDATE: Dead salmon linked to climate change

Photo credit:  University of Alaska-Fairbanks

Quoted in Alaska salmon deaths blamed on record warm temperatures.  (AP, 8/23/2019)




8/19/2019 update, "July 2019 is hottest month ever in Alaska", starts here.

Alaska's Hottest Month on Record: Melting Sea Ice, Wildfires and Unexpected Die-Offs.  (Inside Climate News, 8/7/2019)

With sea ice at a record low, the usual buffer that helps keep Alaska cool is gone, said Karin Gleason, a climate scientist with NOAA. "That exacerbates temperatures, because when you don't have sea ice near the coastlines, then the temperature of the continent can warm sooner and earlier than it typically would." 

Arctic sea ice hit a record low in July after an early start to the melt season, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). The sea ice volume Arctic-wide was about 47 percent lower than the average from 1979-2018.

7/8/2019 update, "Record-breaking heat in Alaska", starts here.

Reported in Alaska see record temperatures in heat wave.  (The Independent, 7/7/2019)

Related reading:
Anchorage breaks heat record.  (NPR, 7/6/2019)

I think it is. We're definitely seeing warmer-than-normal conditions. Like, the 90-degree temperature is 25 degrees above our average. Our average for this time of year is 65 degrees. And just in the last 10 days, we had six record-high temperatures. So not just this year, but overall, the trend for Anchorage and all of Alaska is a steady increase and a steady warming.  (From an interview with Tracy Sinclair, meteorologist at Channel 2 News in Anchorage.)

7/3/2019 update stearts here.

Baked Alaska: record heat fuels wildfires and sends tourists to the beach.  (The Guardian, 7/3/2019)

6/23/2019 update, "Record heat in northernmost Alaska", starts here.

Utqiagvik, Alaska, America's Northernmost Town, Smashes June Record High.  (The Weather Channe, 6/21/2019)

This June record in Utqiagvik (formerly known as Barrow) is the latest notable in what is shaping up as one of Alaska's warmest years on record. NOAA's May climate report released earlier this month found the state had its record warmest spring (March through May) and its second warmest year-to-date through May, behind only 2016.

Original 4/4/2019 "In the red zone" post starts here.

March records for warm weather across Alaska were ‘obliterated’ this year.  (Anchorage Daily News, 4/3/2019)

Many Alaskans have reveled in the warm wave, but others are wary, saying the unprecedented heat has put lives at risk on melting rivers and created challenges for hunters trying to get food. 

Statewide temperatures for March are expected to average 27 degrees, 4 degrees higher than the 1965 high mark, said Brian Brettschneider, a climatologist with the International Arctic Research Center at University of Alaska Fairbanks. [emphasis added]

“We’re not just eking past records. This is obliterating records,” he said.

Original 3/27/2019 post, "Record heat in Alaska", starts here.

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Temperatures in Alaska are toppling records.  (Mashable, 3/26/2019)

Well above-average temperatures are expected to continue this week. Daily temperature records have broken around the state, and toppled all-time March records in the greater Arctic region. 

Last week, Alaska saw its earliest ever 70-degree Fahrenheit temperature. This exceptional warmth has been stoked by a mix of weather events and a rapidly warming climate. 

"The magnitude and persistence of the warmth is particularly striking to me this winter in parts of Alaska," Zack Labe, a climate scientist and Ph.D. candidate at the University of California at Irvine, said over email.

Related posts:
June 2019
India.  (6/17 /2019)
San Francisco.  (6/12/2019)
Atlanta, Geogia.  (6/5/2019)

April 2019
Australia suffers through record hot March.  (4/2/2019)

March 2019
Seattle's record-breaking winter heat.  (3/19/2019)
UPDATE: Central Florida's record-setting February heat.  (3/2/2019)

January 2019
Australia, scorched.  (1/16/2019)
2018: Hottest year ever for Australian state of New South Wales.  (1/11/2019)
Sea surface temperatures around New Zealand hottest ever in 2018, further threatening marine life.  (1/11/2019)
GET ME REWRITE: Prague experiences hottest year on record for third time this decade.  (1/6/2019)

August 2018
Climate change as a matter of fact: Red-hot summer of record heat in Europe.  (8/18/2018)
UPDATE: July 2018 is hottest month ever in California.  (8/18/2018)