After a long spring with a late ice breakup, in July Utqiaġvik residents saw one of the hottest months in a century, according to weather specialists.
The average temperature in July was 48.4 degrees Fahrenheit, which is 6.7 degrees above normal and higher than any other month in the past century, according to the Alaska Arctic Observatory and Knowledge Hub quoting the data gathered at the National Weather Service station close to the Wiley Post-Will Rogers Memorial Airport.
“It was by 1/10 of a degree, the warmest month on record, just edging out July 2019,” said climate scientist Rick Thoman. “Eleven days during the month had high temperatures of 60 or higher, which is the most any single month on record in Utqiaġvik.
“It’s not just that there was a couple of hot days; it’s that sustained warmth,” he said, “and that’s where those environmental impacts really come in — when you’ve got a day after day of that warmth.”
July at Utqiaġvik finished with the highest average temperature of any month in the past century. The average...
Posted by Alaska Arctic Observatory and Knowledge Hub on Tuesday, August 1, 2023
Earlier in June, the temperatures in Utqiaġvik were close to normal, and there was more ice at the start of the summer, Thoman said, which kept the winds offshore. That stagnant pattern led to a very warm month in July.
Besides the weather station next to the airport, Utqiaġvik also has the Barrow Atmospheric Baseline Observatory, located further north and subject to more sea breeze, Thoman said. The average temperature there — as well as in the Deadhorse area — was not as hot as in July 2019 but still close to a record, Thoman said.
The heat extended into Canada as well, with Inuvik reporting the July average temperature more than 11 degrees Fahrenheit above normal, which is “just stunning for a summer month,” Thoman said.
“No doubt about it, everywhere across the North Slope it was extremely warm,” Thoman said, and it was “if not the warmest, then, you know, the top two or three warmest months on record.”
What is more important than the high temperature on some days in July, Thoman said, is the number of subsequent hot days the area saw — 11 days with highs of about 60, to be exact.
The extreme warmth might accelerate “the greening of the North Slope,” Thoman said, as well as permafrost thaw.
“As that warmth percolates into the ground — and that takes a while, it doesn’t happen, you know, the same day — but over time, that’s going to ... increase the thaw layer in the summer and continue to warm the permafrost below,” Thoman said. “That deeper thaw layer, of course, will take longer to freeze once winter comes.”