Supporting the Relocation, Travel, and Lifestyle Needs of the American Military Family

The climate can be extreme in interior Alaska.  Temperatures range with low to high extremes.  The average high temperature in July is 71 degrees with an average low of 50 degrees.  Summer temperatures will occasionally hit 90 degrees or higher.  During January, the average high temperature is -2 degrees with an average low of -19 degrees.  The last part of December and the first part of January are usually the coldest months, with temperatures plunging to -40 to -50 degrees Fahrenheit.


Precipitation
Average Rainfall:  1-2 inches monthly during the summer months.  Thunderstorms do occasionally occur in this area, although they are weaker than most storms you would encounter in the lower 48.  Average Snowfall:  5-12 inches monthly in the winter.  Record monthly snowfall was 52".

Following the Fairbanks weather forecast in the local paper will provide an idea of the weather at Clear.

Daylight Hours
While summers provide virtually 24 hours of daylight, winters include only about 4 hours at the lowest point between roughly 1030 and 1430 local time.  The transition between seasons also brings rapid changes in the amount of daylight?as much as 8 minutes per day.  

The farther you travel toward the north pole, the longer the days are in summer and the shorter they are in winter. During the summer months, Alaska enjoys extended daylight hours in all parts of the state. In Barrow, Alaska's northernmost village far above the Arctic Circle, the sun doesn't set for 84 days! In Anchorage, the summer sun sets as late as 10:42 p.m. and even in Southeast Alaska, the southernmost section of the state, the darkest hours of the summer night have the appearance of twilight. This phenomenon is commonly referred to as the Midnight Sun.

As the earth travels around the sun, the seasons are determined by where the poles are pointed. The farther north or south you travel from the equator, the more dramatic daylight changes are. Around June 21st, the North Pole is pointed toward the sun, so as the earth rotates on its axis, the sun appears to move in a circle in the sky without falling below the horizon. The lowest latitude at which this happens is the Arctic Circle. On the other side of the world in Antarctica, the South Pole is pointed away from the sun and so it does not appear at all during this time. It is below the horizon. Summer in the far north is winter in the far south.

As the earth continues its orbit, daylight in the far north diminishes until by the fall equinox, around Sept. 21st, the entire planet gets exactly the same amount of daylight?12 hours. Then, as the earth makes its way another quarter of the distance around its orbit, the north pole points even farther from the sun and daylight hours continue to shrink while in Antarctica, summer is underway. In Barrow, there is no daylight for 64 days in the heart of the winter. The sun does not rise above the horizon. Deep winter in the northern hemisphere is summer in the south. Daylight grows in the north again as the pole begins its swing back toward the sun and by about March 21st, the spring equinox, everyone has equal daylight again.

Daylight Extremes
June - 21 hours, 40 minutes/day
December - 3 hours, 47 minutes/day