AK_weather

From the Suomi NPP polar orbiting satellite yesterday as the storm reached peak intensity of 949 mb.

Winters are milder than places in the Upper Midwest but also much longer. Anchorage's climate is much milder than locations just a few miles away in the southern interior. Sitting on a broad peninsula that juts out into Cook Inlet certainly has an advantageous effect. It is also rather dark most of the day, with November and December usually featuring overcast skies so that even when there is daylight, it is still rather gloomy. The white of frequent fresh snowfalls from mid-November through late December does mitigate a lot of the darkness though.

a Yes.

Termination dust is the Alaskan term which describes the first snow to fall on the peaks of the mountains outside of town and which actually sticks for good. It signals the last days of summer before the long Anchorage winter.