Record Snowfall in Juneau Contrasts with Long-Term Warming Trends
This winter, Juneau, Alaska’s capital, has experienced an unusual weather pattern, defying the broader warming trend seen over recent decades. Despite the long-term warming of Alaska’s largest cities, Juneau has received an extraordinary amount of snow, surpassing both Fairbanks and Anchorage combined.
Nicole Ferrin, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Juneau, highlights the distinction between climate and weather, emphasizing that climate is the expected long-term trend, whereas weather is the short-term occurrence. “Climate is what you expect and weather is what you get,” Ferrin explained.
This season, Juneau recorded over 181.7 inches of snow by March 18, more than doubling its average snowfall of 88 inches. This places the city in its fourth snowiest winter on record, with just a slight increase needed to challenge the 1964-65 record of 194.3 inches.
Unpredictable temperature fluctuations have also marked this winter, with Juneau experiencing one of its coldest Decembers, followed by a warmer-than-average January and an average February. Since records began in 1943, this winter ranks as the 26th coldest.
According to Ferrin, the overall seasonal average may appear normal due to these extremes, yet the winter has been anything but typical. “The winter as a whole ends up appearing pretty normal, even though it definitely doesn’t feel normal, because we had kind of two extremes in there,” she noted.
Long-Term Winter Changes in Alaska
Research from Climate Central, a nonprofit group, shows that winters have shortened in 80% of 245 U.S. cities analyzed, with Juneau and Anchorage showing significant warming trends. Between 1998 and 2025, Juneau experienced above-average winter temperatures in over two-thirds of its days, while Anchorage saw 55% of its winter days warming.
Kaitlyn Trudeau from Climate Central reported that the historical winter temperature thresholds are 29.6 degrees Fahrenheit for Juneau and 19.1 degrees Fahrenheit for Anchorage. She emphasized the reduction in cold winter days compared to the past. “The winters of the past — a lot of the winters that people remember when they were growing up — we are seeing much fewer days of those kinds of winters,” Trudeau stated.
Brian Brettschneider, a climate scientist with the National Weather Service, offered a reanalysis showing different figures, attributing these to methodological differences. He found that about a third of winter days have warmed in both Juneau and Anchorage.
Regardless of methodological differences, the consensus is that Alaska’s winters are warming, driven by Arctic amplification. Brettschneider explains, “Snow acts like a mirror that reflects solar energy back out into space. So with fewer days of snow on the ground, those days are notably warmer than they used to be.”
Data analyzed by Climate Central from NOAA shows a significant rise in average winter temperatures: 4.6 degrees Fahrenheit in Anchorage and 5.5 degrees Fahrenheit in Juneau from 1970 to 2025.
A report from the Alaska Coastal Rainforest Center in 2022 predicted a decline in Juneau’s snowpack by up to 58% by the century’s end, contingent on greenhouse gas emissions.
Update: This story has been updated with the snow total and rank in the record as of March 18, 2026.
Original Story at www.ktoo.org