Fairbanks, Alaska warmer than much of Minnesota this July

Posted at 3:59 PM on July 15, 2009 by Paul Huttner

You would think it would be a safe bet that a Minnesota summer would be warmer than Alaska. This July you'd be wrong.

Take Fairbanks, Alaska. There have been 10 days so far this month at or above 80 degrees. In the Twin Cities? Only 9 days. Fairbanks cooked at 91 degrees on July 8th. In the Twin Cities that day? A cool 79 degrees. In fact the Twin Cities has not hit 90 yet this month.

Daily maximum temperatures have been warmer in Fairbanks than in the Twin Cities on 9 of the 14 days this month. Fairbanks is running 5.4 degrees above average for July at 68.4. The Twin Cities is running 1.7 degrees below average for the period.

It's not even fair if you compare Duluth with Fairbanks this month. The average temperature in Duluth is 62 degrees this month. That's a full 6.4 degrees cooler than Fairbanks this month.

So why is this happening? It would be nice to have an easy explanation like the developing El Nino, but the reality is we just don't know. A high amplitude jet stream pattern has put Alaska under a warm ridge of high pressure this month. Minnesota has had frequent northwest flow bringing cooler air from Canada. It's just one of those things unless and until somebody produces a study of finds a pattern that can make sense of what we observe as "weather chaos."

Many people from Minnesota are snowbirds and move to southern climates like Florida or Arizona in winter. This month makes you wonder if we should move north to Alaska in summer.

PH

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