Climate + Weather Tools

How windy is it at airports across Alaska? If you’re a pilot or just interested in aviation, check out this tool that slices and dices historical wind data recorded 1980–present at 166 Alaska airports.

Graph downloads available.

How might growing conditions change in your part of Alaska in the coming decades? Choose an Alaska community and see how its growing season has changed since 1980, and how it might change, out to 2099. (Spoiler alert: it may be getting longer!)

You can also see graphs of daily minimum temperatures, growing degree days (and how this cumulative heat affects specific crops), and maps of projected hardiness (based on USDA Plant Hardiness Zones).

Graph and map downloads available.

Are you interested in Alaska wildfires within the larger forest ecosystem? This tool is a map of Alaska with several fire-related data layers—simply choose the layers you want to see.

Note: The Wildfire Explorer shows a variety of data that helps users understand Alaska’s fire landscape. It is not designed for fire management decision-making by agencies or individuals.

From Aklavik to Yellowknife, how might climate shift over decades—or even centuries? See climate projections—including very long-term extrapolations—for over 40 communities in the Northwest Territories of Canada.

Graph downloads available.

What’s happening with climate in your Northern community? See temperature and precipitation projections 2010–2099 for over 3800 communities in Alaska and western Canada.

Look for key changes—for example, higher temperatures in spring and fall could mean a longer growing season and/or a shift from snow to rain. Warmer, drier spring weather may increase fire risk.

Graph and data downloads available.

How vulnerable is your Alaska community to permafrost change? Explore permafrost risks and hazards for 187 Alaska communities within the categories of massive ice, thaw susceptibility, existing infrastructure, permafrost occurrence, and temperature.

Graph downloads available.

How windy was your community in the last 35 years, and how much windier might it get? This tool shows recorded hourly wind data for 67 Alaska communities, 1980–2014. The tool also shows modeled winds for 1980–2099.

Graph and data downloads available.

How is the climate making a subsistence lifestyle in Alaska’s Interior more challenging? People from Beaver, Delta, Holy Cross, Lake Minchumina, Nulato, Tok, and Venetie share stories and images of climate-related environmental conditions affecting their travel to areas used for hunting, fishing, trapping, and gathering.

Stories combine with maps that reinforce their observations, with data visualizations of temperature, precipitation, snow levels, wildfires, and permafrost.

Have you ever wanted to know how much of Alaska has burned since 2004? The charts in this tool compare the current year’s daily tally of acres burned to high fire years (> 1 million acres burned) since daily tally records began in 2004.

Graphic downloads available.

Is sea ice a part of your work, your travel, and/or your lifestyle? We’ve compiled sea ice data from northern Alaska—from whaling-ship logbooks to data acquired from satellites—to show how sea ice concentrations have changed since 1850.

Graphic and data downloads available. Data are also displayed in poster format and as video animations.

How might future changes in precipitation affect Alaska’s roads, bridges, and other infrastructure? This tool compiles projected maximum precipitation events across Alaska.

Choose a location by clicking a map of Alaska, or enter coordinates for a specific spot. You can also choose a 20-year time span out to 2099.

Data downloads available.

“Has it been warmer or colder lately in Alaska?” Answer: “It’s complicated.” Why? Alaska is a very large region with complex geography and sparse data availability.

Here you can see a statewide temperature index: a simple indicator that balances accessible information on temperature variation with the complexity of Alaska’s climate.

Graphic and code downloads available.