Alaska News

While most of America sizzles, Alaskans shiver through chilly summer

In Interior Alaska summer feels like it's over. Meanwhile, Southcentral Alaska is in the middle of possibly the chilliest July ever, while Southeast has mournfully reported the lowest summer-time temperature recorded in over 65 years.

So how are residents of the icebox handling this "coldest-Alaskan-summer-ever" talk while many in the Lower 48 sizzle in record heat? After all, don't Alaskans say this every summer?

KTUU reports that some residents are so fed up they're looking for ways to get out of state in a quest for more sun.

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner expresses resentment over this summer's consecutive 60-degree days in Alaska's second-largest city, which is normally known for 80 and 90s in the summer.

And then there's Barrow, which as of July 15, has received the tell-tale sign of summer's end -- termination dust.

According to Sarah Nicely, program administrator at the North Slope Borough Mayor's Office, there had been talk that it might snow around America's northernmost town, but no one was seriously prepared for the dusting.

"I was leaving the mayor's office to head on over to a camp and, as I was pulling out, I looked and I thought, 'What is that?'" she told Alaska Dispatch's Jill Burke. "I (had thought) it was going to rain, but I realized, 'Oh my goodness, it's snow!'"

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