After a winter marked by record warm temperatures, Alaska's spring weather is breaking records, too, with temperatures climbing past 50 degrees in parts of the state, the National Weather Service said.
On Monday, temperatures in King Salmon hit a high of 51 degrees, breaking a previous record of 50 degrees, set in 1941. Meanwhile in Southeast Alaska, Skagway and Yakutat also set records Monday, with the temperature a the Skagway airport rising to 52, a degree above the previous record set in 2006, while Yakutat, which reached 53, breaking a record of 51 set in 1981.
On Tuesday more records fell.
In Western Alaska, the maximum temperature in Bethel warmed to 47 degrees, Tuesday, topping the previous record, set in 1974, of 46 degrees. And in Anchorage, temperatures at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport reached 48 degrees, which broke the previous record, also set in 1974, by a degree.
Still more records could fall Wednesday.
In a tweet, the National Weather Service's Fairbanks office noted that high temperature forecasts for the Interior -- as high as 50 degrees in Fairbanks and 52 in Healy, according to a map included in the tweet -- mean a new record could be set there:
In a public statement, National Weather Service added that "significant melting" is expected during the daytime hours.
Weather service forecaster Don Aycock said the normal high for Thursday is 30 degrees, with the low 3 degrees, but on Thursday they were expecting temperatures near 50 degrees, due to "a pretty strong ridge of high pressure extending northwest out of British Columbia into the Yukon Territory in Interior Alaska."