As Climate Changes, Meteorologists Relying Less on ‘Using the Past to Inform the Future’

The National Weather Service has kept records for than a century on Alaska’s weather, but Thoman relies on more recent trends for his 2016-17 winter forecast: the past 10 years of temperature data and 15 years of precipitation data. The data suggest there will be less precipitation next month in the Interior but more along the Arctic Ocean coast, and warmer temperatures.
(Courtesy National Weather Service)
National Weather Service meteorologist Rick Thoman predicts more snow, more col