Observation: Bethel broke the record for highest-average temperature in 2014. It’s included in a broad swath of Western and Southwestern Alaska which has had above normal temperatures, according to the National Weather Service.
National Weather Service Alaska Region Consult: Rick Thoman, a climatologist with NOAA in Fairbanks writes, “In that area there are about seven or eight places that have weather inclement observations that go back 70 years or more and at those places it was the warmest in that entire period of record – 70 to 90 or 100 years even. 2014 was warmer than any other calendar year,” said Mr. Thoman.
Biologists say there have been more pine grosbeaks than usual this year, possibly due to the warmer winter and increasing shrubbery in Bethel. Birders also spotted a Robin in Bethel in December 2014. Biologists say there have been more pine grosbeaks than usual this year, possibly due to the warmer winter and increasing shrubbery in Bethel.
Those that broke records for the year include Cold Bay, King Salmon, Homer, McGrath, Nome, Kotzebue and Bethel. The higher temperatures have made travel around the Kuskokwim Delta difficult, where frozen rivers become winter highways. The river took longer than normal to freeze up, and when it did there were dangerous open holes that can swallow snowmachines, four-wheelers, and people. Village travel has been limited all season as a result. Rick Thoman says the record warm 2014 is continuing a trend of very warm years seen over the last decade or so.
Five years since 2000 have been amongst the warmest ever in Bethel. The Kuskokwim River remained unfrozen on November 13th, 2014. The Kuskokwim River remained unfrozen on November 13th, 2014. “The lowest temperature in Bethel was 16 below and this is the first year that Bethel did not make it down to minus 20,” said Thoman. It also took a long time to get down below zero, says Thoman. “This winter, the winter of 2014-2015, Bethel did not have its first sub-zero temperature until the 21st of December. Bethel has never gone that late into the season until the temperature goes below zero,” said Thoman. Thoman says the average temperature for Bethel for the entire year of 2014 was 34.9 degrees. “Now to put that in context, the average temperature for a year in Bethel is about 29 degrees. That doesn't sound like it’s a big departure but over 365 days, that’s very large. Bethel’s never had a warmer year,” said Thoman.
Weather observations in Bethel started in 1923, according to the National Weather Service. With the warmer temperatures, there have been a number of fatalities involving vehicles going through the ice on the Kuskokwim River.
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