Kotzebue and the Western Arctic Parklands: A Record-Wet December and a Cool Summer So Far

The annual maintenance trip to the Howard Pass climate station on a windy July morning. Photo: NPS/Pam Sousanes.

Kotzebue had its wettest December on record, and snow at Kelly Ranger Station deepened by 14 inches between December 19 and 27. The National Park Service records weather across the Western Arctic Parklands (Cape Krusenstern National Monument, Kobuk Valley National Park and Noatak National Preserve) to understand daily, monthly and seasonal patterns, shifting climate averages, and extremes such as drought, floods, heat waves, cold snaps and high winds. The data are analysed with other park "vital signs" to show how these high-latitude lands are changing. The weather station in Kotzebue has recorded temperature and precipitation for over seventy years and provides the context. This is the park's summary from fall 2021 through August 18, 2022, compared with the 1991–2020 normal.

Fall 2021: cold and dry

The fall average temperature in Kotzebue was 6.1°F cooler than normal. November was by far the coldest month, almost 15°F colder than normal and the 4th coldest November in more than 100 years of observations. It was also the coldest November since measurements began in 2012 at the Asik station in Noatak, and the second coldest at the Tahinichok site west of Noatak, in Cape Krusenstern. Each month was drier than normal, and little precipitation fell in November.

Winter 2021–2022: cool and very wet

December brought extreme precipitation and rain-on-snow along Alaska's west coast and into the Interior. Kotzebue recorded 2.52 inches of precipitation in December (melted snow, sleet and rain), 345% of normal, the most for any December on record. Between December 26 and 29, an atmospheric river from the tropical Pacific dropped 1.09 inches on the Kotzebue area; the wettest day was December 29, with 0.47 inches. The normal for the whole month is 0.73 inches. Farther north temperatures rose to near 30°F but stayed below freezing, so the precipitation probably fell as snow; Kelly Ranger Station's snow depth grew by 14 inches between December 19 and 27. Precipitation was below normal for the rest of the winter, but the season total, 3.62 inches, was well above normal.

Snow accumulating at the Salmon River climate station in Kobuk Valley National Park, December 23 (left) and December 27 (right). Photos: NPS/Salmon River Climate Station.

A La Niña lasting into a second winter kept temperatures cool: it generally means colder conditions for Alaska. Every month was cooler than normal, January almost 11°F and February 8.2°F cooler. A few warm spells in late December and late February included a record high of 35°F on December 19. The winter average was 7°F cooler than normal.

During a La Niña winter, the positions of the Pacific and polar jet streams often bring cooler than normal temperatures to Alaska; both the 2020 and 2021 winters were La Niña winters. Graphic courtesy of the NWS/NCEP Climate Prediction Center.

Spring 2022: warmer and dry

March was 4.5°F warmer than normal in Kotzebue and April almost 2°F warmer. May was 2°F colder, without the usual warming at month's end, and spring as a whole came in 1.4°F above the normal. Spring temperatures have been normal or above since 2014, and at the Mt. Noak and Asik stations the spring average over the past nine years has been about 4°F warmer than when measuring began in 2012 and 2013. Spring is usually the driest season, and this one total of 1.10 inches, mostly in early May, fell short of the normal 1.52 inches.

Summer 2022, through August 18

The summer so far was cool. June in Kotzebue was 1.8°F cooler than normal, with June 4–7 the coolest stretch at about 8°F below normal. On June 9, remnant sea ice was still glistening off Kotzebue, a rare sight since field work usually comes later in summer. July's average of 51.9°F was 3.4°F cooler than normal and the coolest July since 2010; at the Imelyak climate station in eastern Noatak National Preserve (elevation 3,620 feet) the July average was 44.4°F, with several nights below freezing. June rain was 0.49 inches (the 30-year normal is 0.60) and July's 1.94 inches was 0.34 inches above normal, with July 27 the wettest day at 0.50 inches.

The last of the sea ice off the coast of Kotzebue, June 9, 2022. Image from the NPS page.

Sources

• National Park Service, Western Arctic Parklands, "Western Arctic Parklands/Kotzebue Weather Summary Fall 2021, Winter 2021-2022, and Spring 2022" (https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/western-arctic-parklands-kotzebue-weather-summary-fall-2021-winter-2021-2022-and-spring-2022.htm); rewritten in hubnx's own words. Charts and tables, whose descriptions disagree with the text in places, are left out.