Climate Change Chart of Fairbanks, Alaska, USA

Overview of climate changes

Temperature changes

Averaged across calendar months, monthly mean temperature shows a difference of +1.92 °C compared with the earlier reference period. This is an unweighted average of the monthly means, not a day-weighted annual average, and it describes the aggregate rather than every month; it also refers to mean temperatures, not daytime maximum temperatures. The clearest monthly increase was in December, with a difference of +5.65 °C.

Changes in snowfall

Mean daily snowfall—not monthly snowfall totals—had an unweighted average difference of +0.42 mm/day across calendar months. That aggregate does not mean snowfall rose in every month. The largest monthly increase was in December, at +2.78 mm/day, while the largest decrease was in January, at -0.98 mm/day.

Changes in sunshine duration

The unweighted mean difference in daily sunshine duration across calendar months was -0.45 hours/day; this is a summary of monthly means, not a day-weighted annual figure or a change shared by every month. The largest monthly decrease occurred in August, with a difference of -1.64 hours/day. In contrast, June had the largest monthly increase, at +0.32 hours/day.

Changes in rainfall

Mean daily rainfall, rather than monthly rainfall totals, averaged a difference of +0.11 mm/day across calendar months in the more recent period. This unweighted average summarizes the monthly means and does not imply that rainfall increased in every month. The largest monthly increase was in August, at +0.58 mm/day, while the largest decrease was in June, at -0.29 mm/day.