Weather conditions in Kodiak were unusual last month, with simultaneously less rainfall and cooler than normal temperatures.
Rick Thoman is a climatologist with the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy (ACCAP). He said usually when a summer month has low rainfall, then that typically equates to warmer than normal temperatures.
“And this year was really not in that expectation at all. Very dry, less than half of normal precipitation, but it was still quite cool," Thoman explained.
July, 2024 was the coolest July Kodiak has seen since 2012 with temperatures averaging more than two degrees below normal. Thoman said last month also featured the least amount of rainfall in the month of July since 2013; just over two inches of rain fell in Kodiak. Normally, Kodiak gets more than twice that amount in the month of July and in July of 2023 had six inches of rain that month.
Although there were several days with temperatures above 60 degrees, it only reached 70 degrees once or twice in Kodiak last month, depending on which source for weather information you reference.
Despite a cooler and drier July, Thoman said this summer is still on track to be an average summer for temperature and precipitation. That’s what the forecast models predicted for Kodiak earlier this year.
“Really wet June, really dry July so the first two months of the summer if we put them together, 'oh look near normal precipitation,'" Thoman stated. "And that’s true for the two months as a whole. But when we get into smaller increments, very different and those can have important impacts for the ecosystem and for people’s activities as well."
He adds that Kodiak Island truly is in its own bubble when compared to climate and weather in other areas of the state.
Although the cooler temperatures are likely to continue into the last month of summer, the dry conditions are not. So far into August, Kodiak's state airport has recorded roughly two inches of rain since Sunday morning, Aug. 4, with more on the way.
Kodiak Island is expected to see excessive rainfall over the next 24 to 48 hours. A flood watch has also been issued, with three to five inches expected through at least Tuesday evening, Aug. 6.
