Alaska News

September was wettest on record for Anchorage -- and unusually cold

September weather in Anchorage was, in a word, weird.

Consider the following information from the National Weather Service, all based on data collected at Anchorage International Airport since 1952:

  • With 7.71 inches of rain recorded, this was the wettest September on record in Anchorage.
  • It became the fourth snowiest September when a slight 0.3 inches fell Tuesday (also marking the fifth earliest occurrence of 0.1 inches of snow or more in the city).
  • Overall it was 2 degrees colder than average, marking the first below-average temperature month of 2015. It’s been at least 2 degrees above average every month this year, according to forecaster Bill Ludwig.
  • Anchorage set four daily precipitation records, including on Tuesday, when a whopping 1.59 inches fell in one day.
  • Total precipitation for the year is just over 15 inches, with over half of it landing in September. That means September had more precipitation than the previous eight months combined.

Ludwig said a repeating pattern of low pressure in the Bering Sea hitting high-pressure systems in Southeast and Western Alaska brought rain to Southcentral. He said a switch in the middle of the month leveled things out, but that didn't stop the rain from pouring at the beginning and end of the month.

Ludwig noted that with the rain come cool temperatures. Some might see the cooling as a sign for a cold and snowy winter, but Ludwig said people shouldn't get their hopes up just yet.

"This is one of those freak incidences where everything came together just right," he said Friday, "but I would suggest our odds of temperatures being above normal for the rest of the months, all the way through this winter, are pretty high."

In the meantime, the rain doesn't appear to be going anywhere. Rain is expected through Saturday. Sunday and Monday are predicted to be mostly cloudy, with rain returning Tuesday.

Suzanna Caldwell

Suzanna Caldwell is a former reporter for Alaska Dispatch News and Alaska Dispatch. She left the ADN in 2017.

ADVERTISEMENT