Websites can be scrubbed of climate change references and the U.S. halted from international and national climate assessments, but rising temperatures leave their own evidence, especially in the nation’s most northern state.
Temperatures have climbed for decades in Alaska, where it’s warming two- to three-times faster than the global average. The heat warms surrounding waters, shrinks glaciers and sea ice and creates more hazardous conditions for people.
As a result, after batting around the idea for a while, National Weather Service offices in Juneau and Fairbanks, Alaska, will start issuing heat advisories for the first time this summer, said Rick Thoman, climate specialist with the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. In the past, special weather statements were used to communicate heat risks.