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.
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?
Yes. So in October 1983, all the NWS and full time FAA sites except Yakutat changed because these sites took/take climate observations at midnight local standard time (and ignore daylight time). For Southeast stations the climate day ended one hour later, most of mainland Alaska one hour earlier, and Bering Time (Nome, St Paul, Cold Bay) two hours earlier. Nearly all cooperative station simply go by the "clock on the wall time", so they change twice a year every year, plus the change in October 1983. As to if that effects the overall climate statistics, probably not if at all, though there is a a slight difference in early e.g. at Nome because of the details of sea breeze evolution.
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?
Yes. So in October 1983, all the NWS and full time FAA sites except Yakutat changed because these sites took/take climate observations at midnight local standard time (and ignore daylight time). For Southeast stations the climate day ended one hour later, most of mainland Alaska one hour earlier, and Bering Time (Nome, St Paul, Cold Bay) two hours earlier. Nearly all cooperative station simply go by the "clock on the wall time", so they change twice a year every year, plus the change in October 1983. As to if that effects the overall climate statistics, probably not if at all, though there is a a slight difference in early e.g. at Nome because of the details of sea breeze evolution.