Alaska Issues Its First-Ever Heat Advisory

Last week, Alaska issued its first-ever heat advisory as temperatures rose to the mid-80s in central parts of the state.

While other parts of the country grapple with far higher temperatures, 80-degree temperatures can still be problematic, especially for Alaskans, whose homes are more equipped to keep heat in than to insulate against it. The temperatures also came during the summer solstice, during which time the sun was out in the state for around 22 hours daily.

Prolonged exposure to 80-degree temperatures can lead to fatigue, and experts warn against staying outside for too long in such conditions, advising rehydration every 20 minutes for those who have to be outside.

“Individuals not accustomed to these unusually hot temperatures for this region may experience heat-related illnesses,” a statement last week from the National Weather Service read.

“This is an important statement, and the public needs to know that there will be increasing temperatures, and they could be dangerous because Alaska is not used to high temperatures like these,” Fairbanks meteorologist Alekya Srinivasan said.

Temperatures have reached this level before in the state — indeed, the heat advisory system is replacing a different system that had existed in Alaska up until this month. But the shift to the heat advisory system is part of a broader recognition of the need for it, as higher temps become more commonplace. Up until June 1, Alaska was the last state in the U.S. to not have a heat advisory system in place.

The average temperatures for Fairbanks, Alaska, have increased by 4 degrees over the past three decades. While that number is seemingly small, increases in that size can have enormous impacts, including increasing evaporation in the area, which causes higher probabilities of wildfires in the state, for example.

The wildfire season has indeed extended from where it once was — while the season previously started on May 1, it is now recognized to begin on April 1.

While the climate crisis is warming up the planet at a faster rate than anticipated, it’s heating up at an even faster pace in Alaska — twice the rate that is happening on average around the world.

The news of Alaska issuing its first-ever heat advisory comes as the rest of the planet also saw higher-than-typical temperatures last month. May 2025 was the second-warmest May globally dating back to 1850, according to figures from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). The only May that was warmer than this year was recorded last year, in 2024.

NOAA also observed that the period from January through May of this year was the second-warmest on record. According to the agency, there is a 99.9 percent chance that all of 2025 will be within the top-five warmest years on record.