Temperature extremes in Alaska: temporal variability and circulation background

The aims of this study are to characterize the spatial and temporal variability of extremely warm days (WDs) and warm spells (WSs) in summer as well as extremely cold days (CDs) and cold spells (CSs) in winter in Alaska in the years 1951–2015 and to determine the role of atmospheric circulation in their occurrence. The analysis is performed using daily temperature maxima (TMAX) and minima (TMIN) measured at 10 weather stations in Alaska as well as mean daily values of sea level pressure and wind direction at the 850 hPa isobaric level.