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Alaska climate report: 2025 ran warm

Alaska had one of its warmest years of the previous 100 in 2025, the Alaska Climate Research Center reports in its year-end summary.

The Alaska Climate Research Center, part of the ������Ƶ Geophysical Institute, released its in late January.

The year was among the going back to 1925 in National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data, the ACRC summary states. At an average of 29.6 degrees Fahrenheit, 2025 was the warmest year since 2019.

Compared with the 1991-2020 normal, Alaska overall was 1.5 degrees warmer in 2025.

ACRC Director Martin Stuefer, who is also the Alaska state climatologist, calls that deviation significant.

 “Noteworthy is that the Arctic as a whole reached record warmth in 2025, and northern Alaska was part of that pattern,” Stuefer said. “It’s a reminder that the fastest climate changes on the planet are happening in the Arctic.”

 Above-average temperatures contributed to reduced spring snowpack, early snowmelt and enhanced wildfire potential, particularly in Interior Alaska, the summary reads.

Utqiaġvik, on the Arctic Ocean coast, recorded the greatest positive deviation from normal, at 2.7 degrees. Bettles had a 2-degree positive deviation.

By region, all but Southeast Alaska were warmer than normal. Southeast had a near-average annual temperature, while the Interior and North Slope had the largest annual deviations from normal. 

The increase in Alaska’s annual temperature is in line with the global increase, the summary states.

Although the annual average temperature increased statewide, Alaska did experience some deep cold. A weather pattern flooded Alaska with cold Arctic air for several weeks late in the year.

December in Fairbanks ranked as the eighth-coldest since records began in 1904 and the coldest December since 1980, the ACRC summary states. 

A deep freeze that began that month lasted 33 days, ending on Jan. 5, 2026, when overnight temperatures first rose above 15 degrees below zero, the summary states. It was the fourth-longest on record, the longest since 1966 and included 17 days when temperatures dropped below minus 40 degrees.

The cold air pushed southward across the Alaska Range, creating record winds of 75 to 100 mph at several locations in the Southcentral region.

“One of the key takeaways from 2025 is the contrast we’re seeing across Alaska,” Stuefer said. “The year was warm overall, but it still included an unusually cold December and major storm and wildfire impacts.”

“That kind of variability is becoming a more common feature of Alaska’s climate,” he said.

The annual summary includes information such as snowfall, wildfire acreage, sea ice and extreme weather events such as ex-Typhoon Halong. That storm caused widespread flooding and damage along portions of the state’s west coast.

ADDITIONAL CONTACT: Martin Stuefer, mstuefer@alaska.edu

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