Quarterly Climate Impacts and Outlook for Alaska and Northwestern Canada for December 2022–February 2023, with an outlook for April–June 2023. Dated March 2023. 

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. 

Although southeast Alaska is one of the wettest areas in North America, it was plagued by a long-lived drought from October 2016 to December 2019. The drought intensified in late 2017 garnering significant attention in Alaska as water restrictions and reservoir levels were too low for hydropower generation to meet capacity. Over the following 18 months, the drought waxed and waned with additional impacts, especially during the hot summer of 2019.

Quarterly Climate Impacts and Outlook for Alaska and Northwestern Canada for September–November 2022, with an outlook for January–March 2023. Dated December 2022. 

October is the heart of Fall for Southeast Alaska—typically cool and very wet, but October 2022 didn’t feel very fall-like for most areas. In fact, October was the warmest on record for a number of locations and within the top five warmest for many other places.

Quarterly Climate Impacts and Outlook for Alaska and Northwestern Canada for June–August 2022, with an outlook for October–December 2022. Dated September 2022. 

The early part of the summer saw record dry conditions that led to numerous and extensive wildfires. The second half of the summer saw excessive rainfall in many parts of the state. Most Yukon watersheds saw record snowpack in this past winter. This was followed by a colder than average spring, which signaled increased potential for flooding during the spring snowmelt season. 

Quarterly Climate Impacts and Outlook for Alaska and Northwestern Canada for March–May 2022, with an outlook for July–September 2022. Dated June 2022. 

The current snowpack in the Yukon is largely unprecedented, with many sites close to meeting or exceeding their historical monthly records. The higher than normal snowpack and cool spring temperatures may contribute to flooding. This will be especially true if warmer than average temperatures occur in the early summer and lead to rapid melt.