Alaska had a cold, and in some parts of the state very snowy, end to 2025.
December in Southeast Alaska was one for the record books, with historic snow and cold. Juneau had its snowiest-ever December and its coldest 30-day stretch in over 40 years.
Known for cold as much as Juneau is known for snow, Fairbanks just saw its chilliest 30-day stretch in a half-century.
National Weather Service climate researcher Brian Brettschneider — back for another Ask a Climatologist segment — says the early part of the season in Alaska has been characteristically wintry across the state.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Brian Brettschneider: Well, everywhere in all of Alaska has been cold. In Southeast it's really been focused on the central and northern panhandle. So from Juneau northward to Skagway and Haines, the coldest in decades. And for it to just keep going on and on in Juneau is a once-in-a-generation or two-generation event. They had 10 days the temperature has dropped below zero. That's the most in any December in 70 years, and only one full winter — forget just December — only one full winter has had more since 1980.
Casey Grove: So you mentioned the snow. What is the situation with that? I mean, we heard about avalanche warnings, advisories, boats that were sinking in the harbor. I mean, how much snow did Juneau get?
BB: So at the airport in the month of December, they had 82 inches, which shattered the December record by almost 30 inches. In a five-day total, they had 49 inches, and that shattered their three-day record, their four-day record, their five-day record.
But even more snow fell farther north. There were some places in Haines that reported as much as 77 inches of snow in that same five-day period. So for the people in Juneau who think it couldn't have been any worse, it actually could have been worse, but it was pretty bad, nonetheless.
CG: I know some people up in Haines who would say it couldn't have been any better. But let's turn our thoughts to our friends to the north in Fairbanks, where, just historic cold in a place that's known for cold, too, right?
BB: So, really, deep cold in the Interior is less and less common than it used to be. So these kind of cold snaps pre-1980 were not that uncommon. But they can still happen.
If you look at the most recent seven-day period and the most recent 30-day period, those are the coldest in 50 years. Even old timers have to go way back to remember a time it was this cold in Fairbanks, 1975 was the last time it was this cold over this long of a period of time. There have been colder individual days, but as far as an extended period, this is really remarkable.
There's a chance that the airport could set a record for most consecutive days with a high temperature below zero. It's already top 10 longest streaks for days where it got to 45 below zero, top six or seven for the consecutive days where the high temperature didn't get above 35 below zero. So again, even for old timers, this would be a noteworthy cold snap.
CG: Yeah, definitely, and here in Anchorage, as we're speaking, we're kind of in the middle of a snowstorm, but it has been a pretty dry, cold winter so far. And how cold has it been here in the big city?
BB: Well, Anchorage is a little bit tricky, because there were so many wind events in the month of December. And when it is windy, it often stays much warmer, which can seem kind of counterintuitive. -ut there were times where it was 20 degrees at the airport, and where I live on the east side, there was no wind, and it was 10 below zero. So a 30 degree difference, that makes the Anchorage airport temperature comparison a little bit tricky. I think they were about 13 and a half degrees, also, in the month of December, whereas Merrill Field (to the east) was like 6 degrees for the entire month. So that's that's a big difference in just a few miles.
Nevertheless, it was still, for Anchorage International (Airport), the coldest December since 2010, and in fact, most parts of the state, of the mainland, south of the Alaska Range, had their coldest December since 2010. Places like Talkeetna, Anchorage, Homer, and like you mentioned, it was quite dry. I think there was only 4 inches of snow.
And speaking of the wind, a little farther to the north up in Palmer, which was hit by four different wind storms, it turns out (December) was their windiest month that we have good data for on record, any month, not even just December. So each of the big cities in Alaska have had its own different set of challenges, either with cold or snow or wind or something. It's been a highly impactful early start to the winter.
