Much of mainland Alaska is chilling through one of the coldest Aprils on record with very deep snowpack remaining in parts of the Interior and western Alaska. However, Spring has come to Southeast Alaska, with temperatures close to normal this month. Low elevation snow melt is (nearly) complete except in some deep, protected fjords and temperatures have reached into the 50s on at least a day or two in most communities. On Tuesday April 18 Klawock Airport reported a high temperature of 57F as did Juneau Airport on Wednesday, and the Alaska DOT North Douglas weather station reported a high of 60F Wednesday afternoon, the first (unofficial) 60F of the season in Alaska. Figure 1 plots the number of days April 1 to 19 where the average daily temperature has been above normal. Northern Southeast and the eastern Gulf coast are clearly in a different class than most of mainland south of the Brooks Range.
Which brings up the question, Do time zone changes (that is, a station moving from one TZ to another, not the twice yearly nonsense) affect the station temperature statistics?
Which brings up the question, Do time zone changes (that is, a station moving from one TZ to another, not the twice yearly nonsense) affect the station temperature statistics?