National Weather Service

The Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly approved a resolution Thursday that established a task force that will put together a plan to deal with the impacts of climate change on the borough.

The National Weather Service is automating weather balloon launches in Alaska as part of a shift that will concentrate staff at the agencies urban forecast offices. KUAC’s Dan Bross reports.

Unseasonably warm and wet weather last month laid down a coating of hard-to-remove all around the Interior. That’s kept the crews that remove snow and ice from roads and runways busy.

Overnight low temperatures have dropped down to freezing in some spots around the Interior over the past week, including Denali Park to the south and Eagle to the east. It hasn’t dropped that much yet in the Fairbanks area – but it’s overdue.

National Weather Service climate expert Rick Thoman says there’s a good chance that all of Alaska will be warmer than normal in August and the next couple of months. But he says there’s near-certainty that coastal areas along the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering and Beaufort seas will be warm through October.

A new study of lightning in Alaska …

It’s been a relatively cool and snowy winter here in the Interior, compared with the past couple of winters. But climate experts say the Arctic has been warmer than average. They say that’s why it appears this year’s maximum Arctic sea-ice cover, measured near the end of winter, is likely to set another record for the smallest maximum on record.

The ebb and flow of Arctic sea ice …

The National Weather Service says the cold that’s gripped the Interior for the past few weeks will finally give way this week to milder temperatures. The weather service’s long-term forecast calls for normal temperatures and precipitation through the rest of the winter – except, possibly, in western Alaska.