Alaska Crushes Record For Hottest December

Alaska crushes record for hottest December as Arctic sea ice hits record low

In its hottest December ever recorded, Alaska was a stunning 15.7°F above the 20th century average. And the year ended with Arctic sea ice hitting an all-time record low.

While the East Coast had a cool December and New Year’s week, Alaska baked. Last Tuesday, Anchorage hit 48°F, warmer than southern cities from Atlanta and Jacksonville to Houston and New Orleans.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported this week that Alaska averaged 19.4°F for the month, topping the previous record (1985) by a whopping 2.1°F. “That’s really quite astonishing,” said Rick Thoman, the National Weather Service’s climate sciences and services manager for the Alaska region. As he explained to the Anchorage Daily News, “Usually you’re breaking those by a tenth of a degree or two-tenths of a degree.”

The Arctic as a whole was so warm in December that Arctic sea ice set a new end-of-year record low, as both the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) reported. 

Arctic sea ice extent hits record low the last week of December (red line).

The last occurrence of what is happening now, the PETM, which I've posted about before, the Arctic experienced a large increase in temperature.  At the PETM, the Arctic was 75 degrees Fahrenheit in the daytime in the summer.  The PETM was the result of a large infusion of CO2 and methane into the atmosphere, but we are throwing 10 times the amount of greenhouse gases that occurred then.  No matter how fast we act to shut of the CO2 entering the atmosphere, the Arctic sea ice will soon be gone.