Alaska’s largest city is reeling from a record-breaking heatwave that canceled Fourth of July fireworks and has sent residents on a quest for fans and ice.
On Independence Day, the temperature at Ted Stevens International Airport in Anchorage broke an all-time high, clocking in at 90 degrees, an astounding five degrees higher than the previous record in 1969.
The temperature in the city rivaled places like Key West, Fla., and parts of New Mexico, with Mayor Ethan Berkowitz calling the weather event “unpreceded.”
In other parts of the state, wildfires have burned through about 634,000 acres, beating out the 411,000 acres that burned across the state in all of 2018.
Alaska climatologist Brian Brettschneider told Time that the extreme weather conditions would likely worsen over time. “It’s extremely challenging to attribute any particular event to climate change. But that said, it’s much more likely for these type of events to occur in a warming world,” Brettschneider said.
The warming trend in Alaska is not just contained to Anchorage but extends all the way up to America’s northernmost city, Utqiaġvik (formerly Barrow). In the city of about 4,500, average temperatures have been on the rise over the past few years.
The Utqiaġvik July-June 12-month average temps, which keeps winter months together, have been trending sharply upward for since 1980s but the past 3 years are remarkable. These are now similar to yearly averages in the northern Interior. #akwx #Arctic @Climatologist49 @ajatnuvuk pic.twitter.com/vSKrhieRIn
— Rick Thoman (@AlaskaWx) July 5, 2019
Anchorage remains under a burn ban as residents cope with the sweltering heat, while smoke from the wildfires has been making its way into the city and surrounding areas.
