 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Interior Alaska" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(February 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Interior Alaska is the central region ofAlaska's territory, roughly bounded by theAlaska Range to the south and theBrooks Range to the north. It is largelywilderness. Mountains includeDenali in theAlaska Range, theWrangell Mountains, and theRay Mountains. Thenative people of the interior areAlaskan Athabaskans. The largest city in the interior isFairbanks,Alaska's second-largest city, in theTanana Valley. Other towns includeNorth Pole, just southeast of Fairbanks,Eagle,Tok,Glennallen,Delta Junction,Nenana,Anderson,Healy, andCantwell. The interior region has an estimated population of 113,154.
Interior Alaska experiences extreme seasonal temperature variability. Winter temperatures in Fairbanks average −12 °F (−24 °C) and summer temperatures average +62 °F (+17 °C). Temperatures there have been recorded as low as −65 °F (−54 °C) in mid-winter, and as high as +99 °F (+37 °C) in summer. Both the highest and lowest temperature records for the state were set in the Interior, with 100 °F (38 °C) inFort Yukon and −80 °F (−62 °C) inProspect Creek.[1] Temperatures within a given winter are highly variable as well; extended cold snaps of forty below zero can be followed by unseasonable warmth with temperatures above freezing due tochinook wind effects.
Summers can be warm and dry for extended periods creating ideal fire weather conditions. Weak thunderstorms produce mostly dry lightning, sparking wildfires that are mostly left to burn themselves out as they are often far from populated areas. The2004 season set a new record with over 6,600,000 acres (27,000 km2) burned.
The average annual precipitation in Fairbanks is 11.3 inches (287 mm). Most of this comes in the form of snow during the winter. Most storms in the interior of Alaska originate in theGulf of Alaska, south of the state, though these storms often have limited precipitation due to arain shadow effect caused by theAlaska Range.
On clear winter nights, theaurora borealis can often be seen in the sky. Like all subarctic regions, the months from May to July in the summer have no night, only a twilight during the night hours. The months of November to January have little daylight. Fairbanks receives an average 21 hours of daylight between May 10 and August 2 each summer, and an average of less than four hours of daylight between November 18 and January 24 each winter.
The interior of Alaska is largely underlined by discontinuouspermafrost, which grades to continuous permafrost as theArctic Circle is approached.
.jpg)
| Climate data forFairbanks International Airport, Alaska (1991–2020 normals,[a] extremes 1904–present[b]) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °F (°C) | 52 (11) | 50 (10) | 56 (13) | 76 (24) | 90 (32) | 96 (36) | 99 (37) | 93 (34) | 84 (29) | 72 (22) | 54 (12) | 58 (14) | 99 (37) |
| Mean maximum °F (°C) | 29.7 (−1.3) | 35.4 (1.9) | 45.1 (7.3) | 61.9 (16.6) | 76.6 (24.8) | 85.1 (29.5) | 85.0 (29.4) | 80.0 (26.7) | 69.3 (20.7) | 54.8 (12.7) | 32.7 (0.4) | 32.2 (0.1) | 87.5 (30.8) |
| Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 0.6 (−17.4) | 11.6 (−11.3) | 24.9 (−3.9) | 45.6 (7.6) | 62.1 (16.7) | 71.8 (22.1) | 72.7 (22.6) | 66.4 (19.1) | 55.3 (12.9) | 34.1 (1.2) | 12.3 (−10.9) | 4.3 (−15.4) | 38.5 (3.6) |
| Daily mean °F (°C) | −8.3 (−22.4) | 0.2 (−17.7) | 10.7 (−11.8) | 33.7 (0.9) | 50.3 (10.2) | 61.0 (16.1) | 62.9 (17.2) | 57.0 (13.9) | 45.8 (7.7) | 26.2 (−3.2) | 4.1 (−15.5) | −4.3 (−20.2) | 28.3 (−2.1) |
| Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | −17.2 (−27.3) | −11.2 (−24.0) | −3.4 (−19.7) | 21.7 (−5.7) | 38.6 (3.7) | 50.2 (10.1) | 53.1 (11.7) | 47.6 (8.7) | 36.2 (2.3) | 18.4 (−7.6) | −4.1 (−20.1) | −13.0 (−25.0) | 18.1 (−7.7) |
| Mean minimum °F (°C) | −43.2 (−41.8) | −36.0 (−37.8) | −27.3 (−32.9) | −2.4 (−19.1) | 26.2 (−3.2) | 40.2 (4.6) | 44.2 (6.8) | 36.1 (2.3) | 23.4 (−4.8) | −2.9 (−19.4) | −25.9 (−32.2) | −36.5 (−38.1) | −45.8 (−43.2) |
| Record low °F (°C) | −66 (−54) | −58 (−50) | −56 (−49) | −32 (−36) | −1 (−18) | 28 (−2) | 30 (−1) | 21 (−6) | 3 (−16) | −28 (−33) | −54 (−48) | −62 (−52) | −66 (−54) |
| Averageprecipitation inches (mm) | 0.61 (15) | 0.52 (13) | 0.40 (10) | 0.34 (8.6) | 0.54 (14) | 1.48 (38) | 2.26 (57) | 2.10 (53) | 1.35 (34) | 0.76 (19) | 0.74 (19) | 0.57 (14) | 11.67 (296) |
| Average snowfall inches (cm) | 10.2 (26) | 10.0 (25) | 6.5 (17) | 3.1 (7.9) | 0.9 (2.3) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 2.3 (5.8) | 8.2 (21) | 12.5 (32) | 10.9 (28) | 64.6 (164) |
| Average precipitation days(≥ 0.01 in) | 8.7 | 6.9 | 5.7 | 3.7 | 6.2 | 10.8 | 12.8 | 13.5 | 10.7 | 9.8 | 9.5 | 8.8 | 107.1 |
| Average snowy days(≥ 0.1 in) | 10.2 | 8.3 | 6.7 | 2.6 | 0.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.3 | 8.3 | 11.2 | 10.4 | 59.6 |
| Averagerelative humidity (%) | 69.3 | 65.5 | 60.4 | 56.2 | 50.2 | 56.6 | 64.2 | 70.8 | 68.9 | 74.1 | 72.8 | 71.3 | 65.0 |
| Averagedew point °F (°C) | −17.0 (−27.2) | −11.9 (−24.4) | −0.2 (−17.9) | 16.2 (−8.8) | 29.7 (−1.3) | 42.6 (5.9) | 48.7 (9.3) | 46.0 (7.8) | 34.5 (1.4) | 17.4 (−8.1) | −3.8 (−19.9) | −13.2 (−25.1) | 15.8 (−9.0) |
| Mean monthlysunshine hours | 54 | 120 | 224 | 302 | 319 | 334 | 274 | 164 | 122 | 85 | 71 | 36 | 2,105 |
| Source 1:[2][3]NOAA (relative humidity 1961–1990)[4][5][6][7] | |||||||||||||
| Source 2:Danish Meteorological Institute (sun, 1931–1960)[8] | |||||||||||||
While the vast majority of indigenousNative people of Interior Alaska areAthabaskan, largeYup'ik andIñupiaq populations reside inFairbanks.[9]
Thefederally recognized tribes of Interior Alaska:[9]
