A tale of two Junes at the top of the world

There's a striking split in Alaska's June weather: while the Arctic as a whole just had its warmest June since 1950, Alaska's North Slope went the opposite way — its coolest June since 2018. Two versions of the same month, side by side.

The North Slope's cool run fits a broader streak of Alaska bucking the warming narrative lately. The state saw six straight months of below-normal temperatures through spring, and June ran slightly cold across much of coastal southern Alaska, from Kodiak to the Aleutians. Not everywhere, though: the Yukon-Kuskokwim delta had its mildest June since 2022, the North Slope its coolest in years — the state pulling in different directions at once.

The dry side of the month may matter more. Western Alaska got less than half its normal rain in places, drying out the tundra and raising wildfire risk — a real concern in a heavy fire season. Arctic land precipitation overall was the lowest since 1993. The month's range alone shows the spread: 85°F at Eagle one day, 17°F at Utqiaġvik on another.

None of this undoes the long trend. Over the past 50 years, Arctic lands have warmed nearly 2.8°C, far faster than the ocean — a cool June in one corner is weather, not a reversal.