Photo: Complexmania.com
“What in the name of Sam Hell is that?” Well, Santa from The Elf, that’s not baby Buddy. That’ a frickin’ train carrying snow to Anchorage, Alaska from Fairbanks. But it’s more like WTF? Never in the history of the famous, 44-year-old Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, an 1,100-mile epic from Anchorage to Nome, has actual snow had to be shipped in to help the race go off (the ceremonial start has also been shortened from 11 to 3 miles). This is Alaska, after all, a reindeer’s sneeze away from Santa’s beloved North Pole.
The warm weather conundrum comes thanks to one of, if not the, weirdest winters on record in AK. Or more like two weird winters in a row. Last year the course was shifted 225 miles north for better snow. According to the National Weather Service, 2016 has already been a top ten, warmest winter ever for most locations in the state. “Fairbanks had, by far, the lowest precipitation (and snowfall) of any December through February in more than a century of climate observations,” the NWS said, with the small towns of King Salmon and Sitka having their warmest winters ever. Rain has been the norm, not the novelty in Anchorage, which usually does lose snow earlier than the rest of the state. But this warming trend is unprecedented.
The reasons are many, not the least of which is climate change: the last half century has seen Alaska’s average temperatures rise almost 6.5 degrees, and that’s directly linked to a warming climate reports the Environmental Protection Agency. And the only state in the union that features a tundra environment is warming twice as fast as any in the Lower 48.
This year, one finger also needs to be pointed at a powerful El Nino weather cycle that has warmed Pacific waters, pushing warm air towards Alaska so when there is moisture it’s mostly rain, with an inordinate amount of high-pressure hanging over the region like a specter as well. But with one wildfire already reported in the state this year, the weather has many Alaskans nervous. And probably has Santa sweating some, too.
