Nome, Alaska

... New record set for daily snowfall and precipitation amount...

On December 1st 2009 5.0 inches of snow fell in
Kotzebue which equaled 0.27 inches of liquid
precipitation. Both of these amounts set new records.
The previous record for daily snowfall was 2.3 inches
set in 1954 and the previous record for daily precipitation
was 0.16 inches set in 1992.

... Fairbanks weather in November...

... Cooler and drier than normal...

November 2009 was consistently cool month in the Fairbanks
area... with the only sustained stretch of above normal
temperatures occurring during the final week of the month. Most of
the snow for the month in the few days before mid-month.

At the Fairbanks International Airport... the average high
temperature was 8 above and the average low temperature was 10
below. The monthly average of 1.3 degrees below zero was 3.5
degrees lower than normal. The highest temperature of the month
was 30 degrees... both on the 27th and 30th. The low temperature of
34 below on the 21st. This is the lowest temperature to occur
before Thanksgiving since 1994. Monthly minimum temperatures were only
slightly cooler elsewhere in the area... including 36 below at
North Pole and 37 below at goldstream valley bottom.

Snowfall at the Airport was well below normal... with just 7.4
inches for the month... which is about 60 percent of normal. The snow
melted down to just 0.31 inches of water... which is less than half
of normal.

Snowfall varied greatly in the area... with much more falling
north of town between the 10th and 13th than fell from town
southward. The cooperative weather station near Chatanika measured
22.5 inches of snow in November... nearly three times the amount at
the Airport. Other monthly totals include...

Keystone Ridge near Murphy Dome... ... ..21.4 inches
Ester Dome... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ..17.1 inches
College 5nw in goldstream valley... ... .13.0 inches
Fairbanks Midtown... ... ... ... ... ... ... ..8.9 inches
North Pole... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 8.3 inches

Winds were characteristically light... averaging only 2.3 mph. The
highest gust at the Airport was 24 mph on the 12th.

Looking ahead to December... temperatures on average continue to
fall... though much more slowly than in the autumn. The average
high temperatures drops from 5 above on the 1st to 1 below on the
31st. Average low temperatures fall from 12 below on the first to
17 below on new years eve. In the past 105 years... temperatures
have varied by 120 degrees in December... from a high of 58 above
in 1934 to 62 below in 1961. Snowfall averages just under 14
inches. The last December to have significantly above normal
snowfall was 1992. Possible sunshine falls from over four and one
half hours on the first to the annual minimum on the winter
solstice... with three hours and 42 minutes of possible
sunshine... and then increases thereafter.

The forecast for December for Fairbanks from the climate
prediction center calls for an increased chance of a significantly
warmer than normal December.