Valdez, AK February Climate Extremes

Weather records for Valdez go back to 1918 or 1903 depending on which month. There are gaps, but not much with only ten years missing including 2016. The soldiers at Fort Liscum no doubt kept excellent weather records at their post as that would have been a daily duty of the quartermaster crew or a cook. It has always been an order for all US military post to make daily weather observations. I also found an old photo of a white weather box on stilts from 1903 but can’t find it! As I understand it, the Lutheran Church in the background may have been the site for the records I am using.

Weather observations had become standardized by 1900 and included determining water equivalancy, 24 hour snowfall totals, wet and dry bulbs temps, barometric pressure, wind speed and direction along with noting peculiar weather events. It only takes a few minutes. It was likely someone received a small stipend such as the tide observer who also may have the tide gauge and was able make legible entries with some proficiency in math. School teacher? It could have been the same person or someone simply fascinated by snow.

My speculations are probably pretty close. There is nothing at the museum regarding old observation. The Valdez Library has some very old newspapers on micro-fiche which would reveal most the information if one has the time. To dig deeper into who made these observations is beyond my pay-grade as a weather geek, but a trip to DC and searching Ft. Liscum’s daily archives would be another route to follow.

There are some interesting trends to note as it relates to global warming due to our dependence on fossil fuels and the resulting toxic emmissions. In this month’s trivia I dug deeper into *max and *min “mean” temperatures record for the top 5 years. Most maximums have been recent and most minimums were prior to 1990. Also, we are averaging about 10″ less snowfall per month. But some of the starker trends noted for December and January in my earlier blog were not as obvious. Based on that February 2017 should trend towards normal snowfall and temps.

Only once since 1985 have we had more than 24″ in 24 hours…1996/31″

Special thanks to the scanners at Alaska Digital Archives with the University of Fairbanks.

February Weather Stats for Valdez, AK

Snowiest 1928 – 174  —  Coldest – -28 1947  — Warmest 59 – 1923

Average Snowfall (15 year periods)

2000-2015   54”

1986-2000   62”

1918–1933  64”

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1965 – Present

Most Snowfall(in)

1996 – 180

2002 – 107

1964 – 104

1994 – 100

2013 – 96

2003 – 93

 

Least Snowfall

2007 – 1

2015 – 2

1985 – 5

1989 – 9

1979 – 12

Max 24hr Snowfall

1996 – 31

1978 – 25

1980 – 24

1985 – 25

1993 – 23

Most Precip (we)

2003 – 14

1988 – 10

1980 – 10

1992 – 9

2012 – 8

 

 

*Average Max Daily Temp

1998 – 36.0

1997 – 35.8

2010 – 35.4

2015 – 35.1

1987 – 35.1

2012 – 34.0

*Average Min Daily Temp

1965 – 7.8

1979 – 10.7

1990 – 10.7

1972 – 11.3

1999 – 12.7

1966 – 12.5

Warmest Temp(F)

1991    52

1982    51

1986    50

2015    49

1987    45

Lowest Temp

1968     -23

1969     -13

1999     -10

1965      -6

1990      -5

1989      – 5