Category: Skywatch Almanac Weather | Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium's Blog

January Weather

Posted: December 31, 2020| Categories: Skywatch Almanac Weather, What's Happening

While the January Thaw may be thought of as a staple of our weather, January rarely fails to deliver the most consistently cold weather of the year. Following the shortest daylight of the year, the lengthening days are hardly enough to off-set the polar region’s continual loss of heat, helping… Read More

December Weather

Posted: December 1, 2020| Categories: Eye on the Sky, Skywatch Almanac Weather, What's Happening

The darkest days of the year are not helped by the fact that they are also the cloudiest. This darkness is complete across the arctic regions, and nearly so in the sub-arctic, providing an increasing source of cold air that causes the average temperatures to drop nearly 15 degrees, and… Read More

November Weather

Posted: November 2, 2020| Category: Skywatch Almanac Weather

November’s beauty is an acquired taste. After all, it would not be possible to compare it side-by-side with the foliage of October, nor of the post-card scenes of December. November’s attributes are more subtle as it truly is the transition month between fall and winter. Only the bronze of beech… Read More

October Weather

Posted: October 5, 2020| Categories: Eye on the Sky, Mark Breen, Skywatch Almanac Weather, Weather

Autumn’s stumbling progression is the very essence of October. There are moments still of grace and reprieve, enough that a true optimist might still hope beyond hope that the frost will wait another month. There are days of dark, laden skies, the clouds like a cloak that weighs us down… Read More

September Weather

Posted: September 3, 2020| Categories: Eye on the Sky, Fairbanks Museum, Skywatch Almanac Weather

When the calendar flips to September, we expect change, though we are not always ready to accept it. The key to all of the changes in September is the loss of daylight hours, amounting to 90 minutes or so. The longer nights and shorter days set the stage for cooler… Read More

August Weather

Posted: August 3, 2020| Categories: Fairbanks Museum, Mark Breen, Skywatch Almanac Weather, Weather

Although summer continues to reign in August, one does not have to look hard to find signs of impending change. Most Augusts start every bit as hot as July, most notably that of 1909, when the temperature soared to 100 on the 8th. In fact the entire continent has warmed… Read More

July Weather

Posted: July 1, 2020| Categories: Fairbanks Museum, Mark Breen, Skywatch Almanac Weather, Weather

Summer finds itself more at home this month than in any other. The temperatures reach their annual maximum during the last week of this month, even though the Sun reached its greatest strength on the first day of summer. It takes the Earth a while to heat up, which in… Read More

June Weather

Posted: June 1, 2020| Categories: Fairbanks Museum, Mark Breen, Skywatch Almanac Weather, Weather, What's Happening

June eases from spring to summer, delivering some of the longest, finest days of the year. Although a dreary day comes in now and again, much of the weather has become a local affair. Showers and thunderstorms skip about to soak one farm, and leave another bone-dry. But leading the… Read More

May Weather

Posted: May 1, 2020| Categories: Fairbanks Museum, Mark Breen, Skywatch Almanac Weather, Weather, What's Happening

May is nearly as busy as April in the variety of weather gyrations to be expected. Most Mays record at least a few snowflakes, and about every 5 to 10 years some accumulating snow. Likewise, temperatures approaching 90 occur once or twice in a decade. Most of the time… Read More

April Weather

Posted: March 30, 2020| Categories: Fairbanks Museum, Mark Breen, Skywatch Almanac Weather, Weather

No other month has contributed so richly to New England’s reputation for changeable weather as has April. With the strength of the sunshine now equaling that of August, and the lingering cold refrigerated by the ice and snow near Hudson Bay, just about anything is possible. This balancing act almost… Read More