Less Rain, More Sun

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

The total rainfall at Nome Airport during June and July was 1.5 times normal. But compared to the last two summers, so far at least, this summer has featured more sunshine and warmer temperatures.
And despite the total rainfall, it certainly has been dry and dusty at times, and even some vegetation has a brown, dry look to it. In addition to warm weather —this was the warmest July since 2019— another important factor for both plants and people is when the rain falls: Does most of the rain come in a few soaking wet days or is rain more frequent but come in lower amounts?
This week’s graphic shows the percentage of the combined June and July (early summer) precipitation that fell on the wettest six days — 10 percent of days. The higher the percentage the more concentrated the rainfall, while the lower percentage indicates the rain was distributed over more days.
There is a tendency for higher early summer totals to have less of the rain come in just a few days, but it is only a tendency. A few very wet early summers, for example 2012 and 2019, saw a large percent rain fall on the wettest six days. Conversely, some years, for instance 2009, the total rainfall was below normal but the wettest six days accounted for less than half of the total: that was an early summer with more of “dribs and drabs” type rainfall.
This year the rainfall was “typically” concentration: two-thirds of the five inches of rain fell on just six days, leaving the other 52 days of early summer with only a third of the total.