Juneau's Snowy Surprise Amid Warming Trends

0:00What's up Anchorch? This is Anchorch news today, bringing you the city's fastest updates on what is happening now. Alaska's biggest cities have seen their winters warm up faster than most U.S. spots over decades, thanks to climate change. But this season in Juno, bucks that trend with way more snow than usual. The capital has already powered up nearly 180 inches at the airport, double its average of 88 inches, making it the sixth. Always winter on record since 1943. Experts like Nicole Farron from the National Weather Service point out the gap between long-term climate shifts and short-term weather surprises. Juno had wild temperature swings with its second coldest December ever, followed by a milder January and average February. Overall, it ranks as the 26th coldest winter, but locals say it sure did not feel normal. Most shoveling driveways and skiers hitting the slopes are loving the extra powder right now. Still, the big picture shows winter shrinking across 80% of U.S. cities by about nine days

1:03on average. In Juno and Anchorch, more winter days now, top-old temperature baselines like 29.6 degrees Fahrenheit for Juno. Researchers at climate-central crunch data from weather stations, finding two-thirds of Juno's recent winter days warmer than 1972. A local climate scientist tweaked the math and got lower numbers around a third due to different baselines and methods. Both agree Alaska winters are losing their chill. Over the long haul, average winter temps in Juno jumped 5.5 degrees Fahrenheit since 1970, turning more snow to rains. Arctic amplification from melting ice and less ground snow speeds this upstate wide. Forecast predict big drops in Southeast Alaska snowpack by centuries end up to 58% in worst cases. This episode is brought to you by our sponsor, see the episode description. Comfort you can hear. Sound you can relax into, S-O-L-I, solely pillow.com.