Quarterly Climate Impacts and Outlook for Alaska and Northwestern Canada - December 2017

Quarterly Climate Impacts and Outlook for Alaska and Northwestern Canada for September – November 2017; outlook for January – March 2018.  Dated December 2017.   

Much of mainland Alaska, northern Yukon Territory and large swath of the western NWT was significantly warmer than average for autumn 2017. Most of the remainder of the region had, on average, near normal temperatures, except for a small swath from the central Yukon Territory south and eastward into the northern Alaska Panhandle and northern British Columbia, where temperatures averaged significantly below normal. Total precipitation was significantly above average over much of northern and western sections and northeast British Columbia, but below normal along the Gulf of Alaska coast into northwest British Columbia and parts of the Yukon and Northwest Territories.

NOAA’s Regional Climate Services Program and partners created these Climate Outlooks to inform the public about recent climate impacts within their respective regions. Each regional report contains easy-to-understand language, and anyone can access them through the Drought Portal at https://www.drought.gov/drought/resources/reports.