The Yukon-Kuskokwim (Y-K) Delta is beginning to thaw out after the region’s longest and most intense cold snap in nearly 15 years. That’s according to Alaska climate specialist Rick Thoman, speaking on Jan. 14.
"We really have to go back to 2012 to find sustained winds and temperatures lower than we had just the last couple days in the region," Thoman said.
Across the region, wind chills hovered around 50 degrees below zero for multiple days, reaching -58 degrees Fahrenheit at Bethel’s airport. Thoman said that it gave the Y-K Delta a sample of weather typical of the North Slope this time of year.
"If you always wanted to live at Nuiqsut, this was an opportunity," Thoman said.
Temperatures in Bethel spent nine straight days at more than 20 degrees below normal, hitting a low of 33 degrees below zero on Jan. 14.
Much of the state faced a similar fate. Temperatures recently dropped to 50 below zero in Fairbanks, a continuation of the longest December cold snap since 1980. Anchorage saw its coldest December since 2010. Thoman said that the extreme cold has been significant, but a far cry from what was seen more regularly across the state pre-1980.
"There's been a handful of record lows in Southwest and Southcentral since New Year's. But just looking at the absolute lowest temperatures, it's not like the old days," Thoman said.
Thanks to a massive high-pressure system over the Gulf of Alaska, temperatures in the Y-K Delta have rapidly climbed, going from 30 below to 30 above in the span of two days. Snow drifts that have cropped up across the region will soon begin to crust over, Thoman said.
"Any of the drifts that haven't been removed are going to be a lot harder to move just because they’ll have ice in them as well," Thoman said.
Thoman said that the milder weather is likely to stick around the region for a while longer. But he said that this far from spring, the possibility of extreme cold returning to the Y-K Delta remains on the table.
