'North to Alaska...'

Yesterday, I spoke at length about how the Arctic regions have been faring with this unusual ridging and the relative warmth for those areas.

Here's a look at some of the high and low temperatures for yesterday at Alaska, most of which is not in the Arctic except for the far north.

61 36 AK SEWARD
58 44 AK SPARREVOHN_(AWOS)
57 33 AK PALMER_MUNICIPAL
57 31 AK CORDOVA/MILE 13
57 42 AK ILIAMNA_ARPT_(AMOS)
57 45 AK HOMER/MUNI
57 42 AK SITKA
56 41 AK CAPE_ROMANZOFF_AWOS
54 37 AK ANIAK
52 39 AK PORT HEIDEN
51 37 AK NOME
51 27 AK ANNETTE/ISLAND ARPT
50 31 AK ANCHORAGE/INTL
50 41 AK KING SALMON
49 37 AK KENAI/MUNI
49 31 AK SKAGWAY
48 39 AK DILLINGHAM_(AMOS)
48 28 AK YAKUTAT
48 32 AK KETCHIKAN/INTL
47 26 AK ELMENDORF_AFB

Here, let me put this in perspective for you. Seward's 61 degrees.

A high temperature of 61 was reached at places like...

Atlanta GA

Baton Rouge LA

Houston TX

Pretty good company if you ask me.

Even Fort Yukon, traditionally one of the coldest reporting sites in Alaska and the contiguous United States had a high of 3 degrees and low of -2. They beat out many reporting sites in Minnesota and even Iowa.

Did you know as the days are now getting longer, it's even more dramatic in places like Alaska? For example, Barrow, Alaska - On January 22, the sun shone for 20 minutes and 4 seconds, the first time in a very long time.The next day, the sun shone for 1 hour 18 minutes and 21 seconds, over 58 minute increase. The days continue to lengthen though not as dramatically.  Today Barrow will record 3 hours 12 minutes and 30 seconds.

Finally, the snow depths are still impressive despite the balmy conditions. The map below shows areas near Anchorage and surrounding observation sites as of this morning.

Still, if you want milder air, and you never been to Alaska in winter, here's your chance to head 'North to Alaska'. Actually, parts of Alaska will be returning to normal readings starting today.

MS