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New satellite paradigm let on the unadulterated pace of world warming in Alaska , with last yr ’s snow vanishing and lead behind naut mi of bare ground .
The range of a function , take by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer ( MODIS ) instrument onNASA ’s Terra and Aqua artificial satellite , show Bristol Bay Borough in southern Alaska . Anchorage , which is located to the northeast , had an average January snow depth of13 inches(33 cm ) between 1998 and 2025 .
NASA satellite image showing melt in Alaska.
But this year , the station , alongside other division of the state , reportednext to no snow on the ground . What is left behind are large patches of ground seeable from space .
" Since December 2024 , temperatures across the country have been 5 to 10 arcdegree Fahrenheit ( 3 to 6 degrees Celsius ) above normal , harmonize to NOAA , and isolated areas have have even greater anomalousness , " NASA Earth Observatorywrote in a blog postaccompanying the new images . " The warm temperatures caused existing snow and ice to melt and fresh haste to fall as rain . "
As climate change heats up the satellite , Arctic region such as Alaska are get dramatic rate of heating , with temperatures increasing up tofour times quicker than the rest of the world . Anchorage ’s average temperature was 29.3 F ( subtraction 1.5 C ) in January — 13 F ( 7.2 hundred ) above mean andwarmer than readings accept in three dozen other states .
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The reason for this are dual . First , unusual weather conditions across the North Pacific fuel a marine heatwave across North America this winter . This warming was worsened in Alaska thanks to a warm , high - pressing ridgeline of aviation hanging over the nation .
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Second , climate change is increasingly nick away at the region ’s sea ice , which do as a protective buckler that mull over the sun ’s ray back into space But this phenomenon , experience as the albedo outcome , is now work in opposite , with melting ocean ice reveal darker waters that absorb more of the sun ’s rays .
This mean that , as our planet warms , Arctic regions are transforming from planetal refrigerators to radiator . This is causing Alaska ’s snowpack , the snow that accumulates in winter and melts in spring , to cringe . Climate models augur that by themiddle of this hundred , a dramatic decrease in snow pack will threaten the neighborhood ’s glacier and take potent violent storm and more rainfall .
At the end of January , the dissipation of the in high spirits - imperativeness front led to a blast of Arctic winds that brought back sub - zero temperature across the state . Local forecastsdon’t ask this to last for long , however , with warmer - than - ordinary temperature predicted to return to the state by mid - February .
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