Alaska Life Hack: September weather highlights

Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport weather in September, according to the National Weather Service, was warmer and wetter than usual. Here are the stats from the Weather Service:

• The warmest September day on record – 69 degrees (tied) was set on Sept. 2. Anchorage missed setting its 50th 70-degree day of 2019 by just one degree. It ties multiple years for the 9th warmest monthly high temperature.
• Fourth warmest September on record. The average temperature was 52.7 degrees, 4.6 degrees warmer than normal.
• Nineteenth consecutive month of above average temperatures.

The top five warmest Septembers on record:

1 ) 2018: 55.0 Degrees
2-3) 1995-1965: 53.6 Degrees tied
4 ) 2019: 52.7 Degrees
5 ) 2019: 52.0 Degrees

• The average high in September 2019 was 58.7 degrees, 3.6 degrees above normal of 55.1 degrees.
• The average low for the month was 46.6 degrees, which is 4.6 degrees above the norm of 42 degrees.
• 24 days in September had above-normal temperatures.
• 5 days in September had below normal temperatures.
• 1 day in September had normal temperatures (within 1/2 degree).
• A streak of 113 consecutive days with above normal temperatures started on May 31 and ended on Sept. 21.
• The coldest monthly low temperature in September was 32 degrees, set on Sept. 26 and 27. Those tie multiple years for the 14th warmest monthly low temperature. The average monthly low temperature in September is 30 degrees.
• Eleventh snowiest September (tied). It was hail, but it counts.
• Eighteenth wettest September, with 3.78 inches of rain, compared to the normal 2.99 inches. That’s more than 25 percent more rain than normal. It ended a three-month streak of abnormally dry weather.
• The wettest day was Sept. 18, with .66 inches.
• 25 of 30 days in September had some measurable amount of precipitation.
• The first freeze of the fall occurred on Sept. 26, three days later than normal but it’s a month earlier than the first freeze of 2018, which didn’t happen until Oct. 28 and stands as the latest on record.
• Compared to 2018, September of 2019 was cooler and wetter, with 52.7 degrees vs 55 degrees in 2018 on average, and 3.78 inches of rain vs .87 inches of rain in 2018.
• The period of record includes 67 Septembers.

As for October at Ted Stevens International Airport, the last day with more than 11 hours of daylight was Oct. 5, and the last day of the year with more than 10 hours of daylight will be Oct. 16.

The average high for October is 40.5 degrees, with the average low at 29.1 degrees, making the average October temperature 34.8 degrees. Average precipitation for the month is 2.03 inches, and 7.9 inches of snow.