With the sun shining bright in Juneau this week, the conditions are right for the first 70 degree day of the year.
Meteorologist Edward Liske with the National Weather Service says the weather is expected to remain warm and sunny until Friday. The summery weather is a brief respite before rain returns heading into the weekend.
“Enjoy it while you can,” Liske said. “You got three days of this.”
Temperatures have been rising across the panhandle this week because of the combination of a high pressure system to the south and a flow of dry, warm air coming from the Interior.
“That actually allows our skies to clear out and gives us the sunny days that we have,” Liske said. “And the sun is so high in the sky and it’s out for so long that we can warm up really quickly now.”
The rapid warm-up comes after an especially cold spring. Temperatures for both March and April were below average for much of the panhandle.
The recorded temperature at the Juneau airport has hovered just below 70 degrees all week, but other communities nearby have already hit the balmy threshold.
Klawock led the way with the first recorded 70 degree day of the season on Sunday. Temperatures in Haines climbed into the mid-70s on Tuesday. And Tuesday high in Sitka, though more mild at 63 degrees, tied a daily temperature record set back in 1969.
According to NWS, the temperature not only made it above 70 degrees at the airport on Wednesday, it also broke the daily record high at 73 degrees. The same thing happened at several other locations.
Juneau residents should take full advantage of the warmth. In a typical year, we see fewer than 30 days that get that warm.
This post has been updated with the latest temperature information from NWS Juneau.
