We are one week away from the official start of summer.  However we’ve seen anything but summer like weather in the Anchorage area as we get closer to the warmest part of the year.  Overall the spring has been rather cool and wet at times.  The warmest it has gotten this spring is 65 degrees back on May 23^rd.  The first 12 days of June Anchorage saw an average high of 59.3 degrees and picked up 0.73’’ of rain.  We average a high of 61.4 degrees over this period and for the first 12 days of the month we average 0.35’’ of rain.  While our average highs during the heart of the summer are in the mid 60s in Anchorage we do enjoy our fair share of 70 degree days each summer.  And on occasion we do dop 80 degrees.  The all-time record high temperature for Anchorage is 86 degrees and that was recorded on June 25, 1953.  The last time Anchorage topped 80 degrees was back on July 7, 2009 when it hit 81 degrees.  The last time we topped 70 degrees was back on July 22, 2011 when it hit 72 degrees at the National Weather Service Office at Sand Lake.  This cool 2012 spring has myself and many people in the Anchorage area dreaming of warmer weather.  So I thought I’d take a look to see how often the past 10 years Anchorage has hit 70 degrees or warmer and how often the past 10 years we have hit 80 degrees or warmer.  Here’s what I found…..

2002 – From May 1^st to August 30^th Anchorage hit 70 or warmer 22 days.  We did not top 80 degrees. 

2003 – Anchorage hit 70 or warmer 22 days.  We hit 80 degrees or warmer 3 days.

2004 – Anchorage hit 70 or warmer 41 days.  We hit 80 degrees or warmer 8 times!

2005 – Anchorage hit 70 or warmer 38 days.  We hit 80 degrees or warmer once.

2006 – Anchorage hit 70 or warmer 16 days.  We did not top 80 degrees.

2007 – Anchorage hit 70 or warmer 21 days.  We did not top 80 degrees.

2008 – Anchorage only hit 70 or warmer 2 days.  We did not top 80 degrees.

2009 – Anchorage hit 70 or warmer 15 days.  We hit 80 degrees or warmer once.

2010 – Anchorage hit 70 or warmer 9 days.  We did not top 80 degrees.

2011 – Anchorage hit 70 or warmer 7 days.  We did not top 80 degrees.

So over this ten year period Anchorage has averaged 19.3 days a year of 70 degrees or warmer and 1.3 days a year of 80 degrees or warmer. Of note….these numbers are a bit skewed due to the summer of 2004 and 2005.  These were abnormally warm summers due to the influences of El Nino.