During a current heat wave, people being advised to stay hydrated and drink plenty of water; dress in lightweight, light-colored clothing; work outside in the early morning or late evening if you must; ensure to take breaks often and seek out shade; and not forgetting to apply sunscreen to your skin is not unusual in and of itself…
Temperature Reaches 90 Degrees in Anchorage and Breaks All-Time Record
What can you do to protect yourself from the heat?
➡️Dress in lightweight, light-colored clothing. If you must work outside, do so in the early morning or late evening. Be sure to take breaks often and seek out shade. Don't forget your sunscreen! #AKwx (3/3)
— NWS Anchorage (@NWSAnchorage) July 5, 2019
…but consider that the aforementioned advice from the National Weather Service for residents of Anchorage would normally seem unlikely — especially as the largest city in Alaska is currently experiencing a heat wave where the temperature reached 90 degrees Fahrenheit at Anchorage International Airport for the first time in recorded history on Thursday, July 4, 2019. That temperature shattered the former all-time record of 85 degrees Fahrenheit on June 14, 1969.
The #4thofjuly2019 was one for the books. Several ALL-TIME high temperature records were set at official observation sites throughout Southern #Alaska. But that's not all…there were more daily temperature records set too! #AKwx #ItsHotInAlaska pic.twitter.com/GxcdUaD9ld
— NWS Anchorage (@NWSAnchorage) July 5, 2019
This past week was not the first time temperatures in Alaska reached 90 degrees Fahrenheit. As I first reported in an article from my now-defunct weblog What’s Your Point? at First2Board, the high temperature recorded in Talkeetna on Monday, June 17, 2013 was 96 degrees Fahrenheit — or 36 degrees Celsius — which was six degrees cooler than the high temperature recorded in Miami on that same day. The high temperature in Valdez and Cordova both reached 90 degrees Fahrenheit. If you wanted to go sunbathing on the west coast, the all-time record high in Nome reached a sweltering 86 degrees Fahrenheit during that same week, which matched the same temperature recorded in July of 1968 and 1977.
On a trip to Alaska years prior to the heat wave of 2013, I drove down to Seward to catch a dinner cruise in the Kenai Fjords and dined on some delicious salmon while gazing at some majestic scenery from the boat. A jacket probably would not have been needed for warmth from the winds when the high temperature soared to 88 degrees Fahrenheit during that week in 2013.
Summary
The heat wave in Anchorage is expected to last through Saturday, July 20, 2019, when the high temperature of 69 degrees Fahrenheit is forecast to be one degree warmer than normal. Until then, high temperatures are predicted to be in the 80s through Tuesday, July 9, 2019; and then in the 70s for the remainder of the heat wave.
Brian Cohen puts his bare foot into the Arctic Ocean along the coast of what was then known as Barrow in Alaska — and he really could have used a little of that heat on that day.
