What type of climate does alaska have

Southeastern Alaska is and always has been the principal production area. Lumber and pulp mills are important contributors to the economy of that portion of the state. In south-central Alaska high, barren mountains and numerous glaciers limit the forests to about 10 to 20 percent of the total area. Some commercial logging has occurred in the Tyonek area on the northwest shore of Cook Inlet and in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley. Some forested land exists in the central interior and southwestern portions along major rivers like the Yukon and the Kuskokwim but, to date, has not been developed commercially.

No commercial timber is found north of the Brooks Range or along the western coastal region. Western interior forested areas are limited to small isolated patches without permafrost. It is estimated that statewide there are 18 to 20 million acres of land potentially suitable for cropland, but less than 20 thousand acres are actually under or have been under cultivation.

The largest acreages are devoted to grass crops for hay, silage, and pasture. Rangelands are widespread in the Alaska mainland. Wind caribou herds foraging on portions of these lands have numbered in the hundreds of thousands and are an important source of protein in many Alaska villages.

Cattle and sheep are raised in areas of the Kenai Peninsula, the Alaska Peninsula, and the Aleutian Islands, and small herds of reindeer are raised on the tundra lands of the Seaward Peninsula.

Vegetable crops, especially potatoes, are also important, and limited mild production in the Matanuska Valley north of Anchorage and the Tanana Valley near Fairbanks provide fresh dairy products to local residents.

Within the agricultural areas the growing season averages 80 to days each year. This is a short growing season, but the daily potential of 16 to 19 hours of sunshine each day produces some of the finest and largest vegetables grown anywhere. Oil is by far the most important mineral product at this time.

Production from the Prudhoe Bay field is now at , barrels per day and is projected to reach 1. The trans-Alaska pipeline, completed in , transports this crude petroleum from the Prudhoe Bay field on the North Slope of Alaska to a refinery at North Pole and to Valdez, a deepwater port in the northern Gulf of Alaska.

The petroleum is then moved by oceangoing tankers to refineries in Alaska and the contiguous 48 states. Exploration for additional petroleum is in progress in several land areas and on the outer continental shelf from the Gulf of Alaska to the Beaufort Sea coast. Commercial gas wells are producing in the Barrow area and the Kenai Peninsula, and a large pipeline is expected to be built in the next 5 to 10 years to transport Prudhoe Bay gas to the lower 48 states.

Coal is mined in the Healy area, and several other large deposits have been located but are not commercially mined. Gold mining has resumed in the vicinity of Nome, bornite is mined in the vicinity of Kobuk, and platinum of the Bering Sea coast.

All other types of mining are of a minor nature but are expected to develop as problems of transportation and production costs are solved. The fishing industry, which includes the taking of crab and shrimp, is another leading industry in Alaska. Commercial fishing occurs along the entire Alaska coast but is heaviest in the southeastern Bering Sea, along the Aleutian Islands, and around the coast of the Gulf of Alaska. Salmon have been the main product, but shellfish, particularly ding and tanner crab and shrimp, are becoming more important.

A new fishery for bottom fish is emerging with the implementation of the U. Most visitors fly to the Arctic from Fairbanks.

Home to Kodiak and the Aleutian Islands, this region is accessible by plane or ferry. Expert Advice First Trip to Alaska?

How to Plan and Book? What to Wear in Alaska? Which Departure Port? In contrast to other regions, the most severe environmental stresses in Alaska parks are climate related. Even with multiple lines of evidence that Alaska is warming, interpreting temperature trends and other climatic indicators is complicated.

An important climate pattern, evident in the relatively few long-term climate stations located in parks, is the Pacific Decadal Oscillation PDO. Much of the warming that has occurred since the middle of the 20th century occurred in as a stepwise shift, attributed to a climatic transition from a cool to a warm phase in the PDO Chapin et al.

In the early s, the PDO shifted back to a cooler phase resulting in statewide temperatures that were cooler than the previous decades Bieniek and Walsh The most recent years have seen yet another shift back to a warm phase that may or may not persist, but has resulted in five of the warmest years on record for Alaska since NOAA Nonlinear responses and regional variations are expected to continue to occur as the planet adjusts to global-scale change IPCC , Larsen et al.

Recent studies suggest that warming Arctic temperatures weaken the temperature gradient between the poles and lower latitudes leading to a wavier or wobbly jet stream, which results in more persistent weather patterns and extreme conditions such as cold spells, heat waves, droughts, and flooding Francis and Vavrus Winter in Alaska is roughly October through March, although temperatures and daylight vary from region to region.

Snow blankets much of Southcentral during the winter months, perfect for winter activities like skiing, snowmobiling snowmachining to Alaskans , and dog mushing. Winter in the Interior and Arctic regions are completely different. Strangely, the Arctic is technically a desert. Temperatures during the shoulder seasons in Spring and Fall can be variable, warm during the day but still cold at night.

Learn more about specific weather for the five regions in the state: Interior , Southcentral , Arctic , Inside Passage , Southwest. Click on a region below to see typical weather conditions and recommended clothing for your trip to Alaska:. Myth: Summers in Alaska are always cool.