Climate monitoring in the Southwest Alaska Network: Annual report for the 2013 hydrologic year

Lindsay, Chuck

The Southwest Alaska Network Inventory and Monitoring program monitors climate across a region that includes five national park units: Alagnak Wild River, Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve, Katmai National Park and Preserve, Kenai Fjords National Park, and Lake Clark National Park and Preserve. Monitoring efforts are currently focused on operating and maintaining weather stations in three network parks. Weather observations are also obtained from an additional 30 stations across the region of interest and included along with weather observations from network weather stations in annual reports. This report summarizes weather observations from the 2013 hydrologic year and provides a regional and historical climatic context. The results provided in this report help identify natural variability in weather patterns and long-term climate trends. This report offers reliable climate data to researchers interpreting ecosystem changes and should also be interesting to a broad audience including land managers and park visitors. The Southwest Alaska Network region experienced slightly colder than average temperatures and near average precipitation during the 2013 hydrologic year (October 2012 through September 2013). Compared to the climatological normal (the prevailing set of weather conditions calculated over a 30-year period, currently 1981-2010), mean annual temperatures for six long-term weather stations ranged from 2.3 F below average to 0.5 F above average. Total annual precipitation was 90 to 113 % of average. Two winter months (January, February) and two summer months (June, July) were warmer than average (with two-month mean temperatures 5.9 F and 2.2 F above average, respectively) but the remainder of the year was either colder than average or at near average temperatures. Above average precipitation fell across most of the region during January, May, and August but the remainder of the year was drier than normal or at near normal conditions. Above average precipitation also occurred during February in King Salmon (255 % of average) and during July in Seward (224 % of average), when drier than normal conditions were experienced across most of the rest of the region. When compared to the longer period of record (nominally 1931 to present), temperature and precipitation during the 2013 hydrologic year was slightly warmer than the conditions observed during the 2006-2009 and 2011-2012 hydrologic years and drier than the conditions generally observed during recent years. Negative (cool phase) Pacific Decadal Oscillation conditions and neutral to slightly negative (La Niña) ENSO conditions occurred during the 2013 hydrologic year. Staff from the Southwest Alaska Network and parks maintained 10 weather stations, relocated one weather station, and set up a new weather station during the 2013 hydrologic year. The Contact Creek Remote Automated Weather Station in Katmai National Park and Preserve was removed in September 2013. It has been replaced by a Climate Reference Network station (named King Salmon 42 SE), which is operated and maintained by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric administration. The Remote Automated Weather Station that was at Contact Creek was relocated to a location close to the Three Forks cabin near the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes in Katmai National Park and Preserve. A new Remote Automated Weather Station was set up near Silver Salmon Lakes on the Cook Inlet coast of Lake Clark National Park and Preserve. This weather station will eventually replace the Hickerson Lake weather station after one year of simultaneous operation.

Climate monitoring in the Southwest Alaska Network: Annual report for the 2013 hydrologic year

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