Annual Climate Monitoring Report for Denali National Park and Preserve, Wrangell-St-Elias National Park and Preserve and Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve Pamela J. Sousanes Denali National Park and Preserve P.O. Box 9 Denali Park, AK 99755 2005 Central Alaska Network NPS Report Series Number: NPS/AKCAKN/NRTR-2006/0xx Project Number: CAKN-xxxxxx Funding Source: Central Alaska Network Denali National Park and Preserve Draft 2005 Annual Climate Monitoring Report – March 2006 Central Alaska Inventory and Monitoring Network File Name: Sousanes_P_2006_ClimateMonitoringCAKN_0315.doc Recommended Citation: Sousanes, Pamela J. 2006. Annual Climate Monitoring Report for Denali National Park and Preserve, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, and Yukon- Charley Rivers National Preserve. NPS/AKCAKN/NRTR-2006/xx. National Park Service. Denali Park, AK. 75 pg. Acronyms: I&M Inventory and Monitoring CAKN Central Alaska Network DENA Denali National Park and Preserve WRST Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve YUCH Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve NPS National Park Service WRCC Western Regional Climate Center NRCS Natural Resources Conservation Service NWS National Weather Service RAWS Remote Automated Weather Station NCDC National Climatic Data Center AWOS Automated Weather Observation Station SNOTEL Snow Telemetry ii Draft 2005 Annual Climate Monitoring Report – March 2006 Central Alaska Inventory and Monitoring Network Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.............................................................................................. 1 INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................... 2 METHODS AND MATERIALS ..................................................................................... 2 Study Area ................................................................................................................ 3 Denali General Climate Summary and Station Locations--.................................... 3 Wrangell – St. Elias General Climate Summary and Station Locations--............... 4 Yukon-Charley Rivers General Climate Summary and station locations--............. 4 Data Archive ............................................................................................................. 8 Metadata................................................................................................................... 8 Protocols Revisions .................................................................................................. 8 Analyses ................................................................................................................... 8 RESULTS..................................................................................................................... 9 2005 Monthly Weather Summary.............................................................................. 9 2005 Station Records ............................................................................................. 14 CAKN Data Summaries .......................................................................................... 14 Denali 2005 Climate Summary--.......................................................................... 17 Wrangell – St. Elias 2005 Climate Summary--..................................................... 21 Yukon - Charley Rivers 2005 Climate Summary-- ............................................... 25 DISCUSSION............................................................................................................. 30 PLANS FOR COMING YEAR .................................................................................... 31 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS............................................................................................. 32 LITERATURE CITED ................................................................................................. 32 APPENDIX A – 2005 FIELD SEASON ACCOMPLISHMENTS.................................. 33 Denali 2005 Fieldwork ............................................................................................ 33 WRST 2005 Fieldwork ............................................................................................ 33 YUCH 2005 Fieldwork ............................................................................................ 34 APPENDIX B - DENALI STATION DATA................................................................... 35 APPENDIX C– WRANGELL - ST. ELIAS STATION DATA........................................ 51 APPENDIX D- YUKON – CHARLEY RIVERS STATION DATA ................................ 65 iii Draft 2005 Annual Climate Monitoring Report – March 2006 Central Alaska Inventory and Monitoring Network List of Figures Figure 1 Distribution of climate stations and snow survey locations within the three CAKN parks........................................................................................................... 3 Figure 2 Climate stations and snow survey locations in Denali National Park and Preserve ................................................................................................................ 5 Figure 3 Climate stations and snow survey locations in Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve................................................................................................. 6 Figure 4 Climate stations and snow survey sites in Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve ................................................................................................................ 7 Figure 5 March temperature departure from normal in degrees Fahrenheit.............. 10 Figure 6 Precipitation percent of normal for state of Alaska May 2005 in inches. ..... 11 Figure 7 Departures from normal for November and December 2005 in degrees Fahrenheit. .......................................................................................................... 13 Figure 8 McKinley Park mean monthly temperatures for 2005 compared with the period of record average (1925-2005) ................................................................. 17 Figure 9 McKinley Park mean monthly temperatures for the past 10 years. A linear trend line indicates an overall warming trend over the past 10 years. ................. 18 Figure 10 McKinley Park total monthly precipitation totals fro 2005 compared with the period of record averages (1925-2005). .............................................................. 19 Figure 11 McKinley Park monthly snowfall totals for 2005 compared with the period of record averages (1925-2005). ............................................................................. 19 Figure 12 Monthly mean temperature comparisons from climate stations in and around Denali. ................................................................................................................. 20 Figure 13 Monthly precipitation totals for 2005 at McKinley Park on the north side of the Alaska Range and Talkeetna on the south side of the Alaska Range. .......... 21 Figure 14 Gulkana mean monthly temperatures for 2005 compared with the period of record (1949-2005).............................................................................................. 22 Figure 15 Gulkana monthly precipitation totals for 2005 compared with the period of record totals......................................................................................................... 23 Figure 16 Comparison of mean monthly temperatures along the north-south climate transect of WRST. Jatahmund Lake is the station farthest north and Yakutat is the farthest south....................................................................................................... 24 Figure 17 Differences in total monthly precipitation amounts at Gulkana in the drier interior and Yakutat along the Pacific Coast. ....................................................... 25 Figure 18 Eagle mean monthly temperatures in 2005 compared with the period of record mean. ....................................................................................................... 26 Figure 19 Eagle mean monthly temperatures for the past 10 years. A linear trend line indicates an overall warming trend over the past ten years. ................................ 27 Figure 20 Eagle monthly precipitation totals for 2005 compared with the period of record averages (1949 – 2005)............................................................................ 28 Figure 21 Eagle monthly snowfall totals of 2004-2005 compared with the average monthly totals from the period of record averages (1949 – 2005). ...................... 28 Figure 22 Monthly mean temperature comparisons from climate stations in and around Yukon-Charley Rivers.......................................................................................... 29 iv Draft 2005 Annual Climate Monitoring Report – March 2006 Central Alaska Inventory and Monitoring Network Figure 23 Mean monthly summer temperatures at Eagle compared with the Ben Creek RAWS site in YUCH. ........................................................................................... 30 List of Tables Table 1 Mean monthly and mean annual temperatures for 2005 compared with the mean from the period of record (listed in 1st column) from the long-term climate stations in and around the CAKN. Values are presented in degrees Celsius. ..... 15 Table 2 Monthly precipitation totals for 2005 compared with the mean from the period of record (listed in 1st column) from the long-term climate