Christmas time is here, and possibly no holiday is associated with specific weather more than Christmas.
For Nome, the average high temperature on Christmas Day is 14 and the average low is zero.
The coldest Christmas in modern times was back in 1961, when Nome had a high of 14 below and a low of 32 below. There have been several mild Christmases in recent years, including 2016 and 2021, when temperatures were near freezing in most of the region.
However, the mildest Christmas was way back in 1925 when the high was 35 and the low just 30. Of course, there have been stormy Christmas days too, Christmas 2004 saw near blizzard conditions that lasted most of the day and amazingly, on Christmas day 1971 Wales reported a high of 42 degrees with a third of an inch of rain from late on Christmas Eve into Christmas morning.
I'm Rick Thoman and for all of us here at the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, whatever the weather this Christmas, here's wishing you and yours the very best for this holiday season.
