Once white, now green. Alaska loses snow at an alarming rate

Alaska is the northwest of the US. Unfortunately, unusual weather patterns and climate change do not leave this place unscathed. The new satellite photos show how the region has passed the drastic transformation.

After the snow, which remained in this state for a long time, only hectares of bare land remained.

New satellite photos were taken by satellites NASA Terra and Aqua. The paintings show the Bristol Bay district in the south of Alaska. As reported, in the city of Anchorage east, the snow cover has reached an average thickness of 33 centimeters for the last 27 years, but this year snow is there for medicine.

“According to the American National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration, from December 2024, the temperature in the whole condition was from 3 to 6 degrees Celsius higher than the norm, and selected areas experienced even greater anomalies,” said NASA Earth Observatory Earth Observatory in a message. “High temperature It caused melting existing snow and ice, and new rainfall fell only in the form of rain ” – he added.

The more the climate changes, the more arctic regions, such as Alaska, begin to insulate. In these places, the temperature rises up to four times faster than in lower latitudes. For example, in January this year in Anchorage, the average temperature was -1.5 degrees Celsius, as much as 7.2 degrees Celsius more than the long -term average. This was the largest recorded deviation from the norm compared to 36 other states.

This disturbing phenomenon can have two main causes. First of all, the unusual weather conditions in the northern Pacific contributed to the wave of naval heat this winter. Due to the air circulation, the floating heat flooded Alaska.

Secondly, climate change is increasingly destroying sea ice, which should work like a protective shield and reflect the sun's rays back into space. However, the ice melts, and the darker water surface absorbs radiation and thus heats up faster. That is why the regions of the world that once acted like freezers, under the influence of climate change, become radiators. And the warmer it is, the harder it is to maintain a thick layer of snow.

According to climate models, by the middle of this century a drastic reduction of the snow cover will additionally threaten the glaciers, and also contribute to the occurrence of stronger storm and more intense rainfall.

Also, temperature forecasts in the coming weeks in Alaska do not look optimistic. The influx of arctic air, thanks to which the temperature returned to its tracks, will not last long. At the end of February, it will get warmer again than usual at this time of year.