August Climate Outlook

By Rick Thoman
Alaska Climate Specialist
Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Preparedness
International Arctic Research Center/University of
Alaska Fairbanks

The August 2026 climate outlook from NOAA for western Alaska favors above normal temperatures and rainfall for the month as whole all across western Alaska.
At Nome, in recent years, every August since 2021 had above normal rainfall, while in that same five years, August temperatures averaged above normal (once), below normal (once) and near normal (three times).
For coastal areas the ocean acts as a buffer to the decreasing sunshine in August, so average temperatures fall only a few degrees between the start and end of the month. And because ocean temperatures are warmer than earlier in the summer, dense fog is much less common in August compared to June or July.
Over the past 118 years, Nome temperatures in August have varied from as high as 83°F in 1966 to as low as 23°F in 1913. August has the highest average precipitation of any month of the year over nearly all the region; the only exception is St. Lawrence Island, where August and November total precipitation are nearly equal.
At Nome Airport, the average rainfall in August is 3.22 inches, about an inch higher than July or September, the next two wettest months of the year.
The soggiest August was in 1998, with over 8.5 inches of rain. Augusts with less than an inch of rain are uncommon, having happened only seven times since 1906.
Snow is very uncommon on the southern Seward Peninsula coast but occasionally there’s enough to dust higher elevations, especially the second half of the month.