May Weather at Anaktuvuk Pass Airport United States

Daily high temperatures increase by 21°F, from 30°F to 51°F, rarely falling below 17°F or exceeding 62°F.

Daily low temperatures increase by 20°F, from 12°F to 33°F, rarely falling below -4°F or exceeding 41°F.

For reference, on July 2, the hottest day of the year, temperatures at Anaktuvuk Pass Airport typically range from 44°F to 62°F, while on January 19, the coldest day of the year, they range from -16°F to -4°F.

The figure below shows you a compact characterization of the hourly average temperatures for the quarter of the year centered on May. The horizontal axis is the day, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the color is the average temperature for that hour and day.

Kogalym, Russia (3,144 miles away) and Tosontsengel, Mongolia (3,605 miles) are the far-away foreign places with temperatures most similar to Anaktuvuk Pass Airport (view comparison).

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The month of May at Anaktuvuk Pass Airport experiences essentially constant cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy remaining about 57% throughout the month. The lowest chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 56% on May 11.

The clearest day of the month is May 11, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 44% of the time.

For reference, on July 30, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 68%, while on March 4, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 47%.

A wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. At Anaktuvuk Pass Airport, the chance of a wet day over the course of May is very rapidly increasing, starting the month at 10% and ending it at 24%.

For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 42% on July 24, and its lowest chance is 4% on March 20.

Over the course of May at Anaktuvuk Pass Airport, the chance of a day with only rain increases from 2% to 20%, the chance of a day with mixed snow and rain remains an essentially constant 3% throughout, and the chance of a day with only snow decreases from 7% to 2%.

Rainfall

To show variation within the month and not just the monthly total, we show the rainfall accumulated over a sliding 31-day period centered around each day.

The average sliding 31-day rainfall during May at Anaktuvuk Pass Airport is rapidly increasing, starting the month at 0.2 inches, when it rarely exceeds 0.5 inches, and ending the month at 1.3 inches, when it rarely exceeds 2.2 inches or falls below 0.3 inches.

Snowfall

As with rainfall, we consider the snowfall accumulated over a sliding 31-day period centered around each day.

The average sliding 31-day snowfall during May at Anaktuvuk Pass Airport is decreasing, starting the month at 3.1 inches, when it rarely exceeds 7.1 inches or falls below 0.2 inches, and ending the month at 1.7 inches, when it rarely exceeds 4.5 inches.

The highest average 31-day accumulation is 3.1 inches on May 4.

Due to its extreme latitude, Anaktuvuk Pass Airport experiences polar day (also known as the midnight Sun) during the summer and polar night during the winter. These are periods of time in which the sun is continuously above or below the horizon for more than one day. The precise start and end dates of polar day and night vary from year to year and depend on the precise location and elevation of the observer, and the local topography.

In the summer at Anaktuvuk Pass Airport during 2024, the Sun is continuously above the horizon for 1.8 months, rising at 2:28 AM on May 24, and not setting again until 1:48 AM on July 18. As such, polar day begins in May and lasts beyond the end of the month.

The shortest day of the month is May 1, with 18 hours, 14 minutes of daylight.

The latest sunrise of the month at Anaktuvuk Pass Airport is 4:58 AM on May 1 and the earliest sunrise is 2 hours, 30 minutes earlier at 2:28 AM on May 24.

The earliest sunset is 11:12 PM on May 1 and the latest sunset is 2 hours, 26 minutes later at 1:38 AM on May 23.

Daylight saving time is observed at Anaktuvuk Pass Airport during 2024, but it neither starts nor ends during May, so the entire month is in standard time.

The figure below presents a compact representation of the sun's elevation (the angle of the sun above the horizon) and azimuth (its compass bearing) for every hour of every day in the reporting period. The horizontal axis is the day of the year and the vertical axis is the hour of the day. For a given day and hour of that day, the background color indicates the azimuth of the sun at that moment. The black isolines are contours of constant solar elevation.

The figure below presents a compact representation of key lunar data for May 2024. The horizontal axis is the day, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the colored areas indicate when the moon is above the horizon. The vertical gray bars (new Moons) and blue bars (full Moons) indicate key Moon phases. The label associated with each bar indicates the date and time that the phase is obtained, and the companion time labels indicate the rise and set times of the Moon for the nearest time interval in which the moon is above the horizon.

We base the humidity comfort level on the dew point, as it determines whether perspiration will evaporate from the skin, thereby cooling the body. Lower dew points feel drier and higher dew points feel more humid. Unlike temperature, which typically varies significantly between night and day, dew point tends to change more slowly, so while the temperature may drop at night, a muggy day is typically followed by a muggy night.

The chance that a given day will be muggy at Anaktuvuk Pass Airport is essentially constant during May, remaining around 0% throughout.

This section discusses the wide-area hourly average wind vector (speed and direction) at 10 meters above the ground. The wind experienced at any given location is highly dependent on local topography and other factors, and instantaneous wind speed and direction vary more widely than hourly averages.

The average hourly wind speed at Anaktuvuk Pass Airport is essentially constant during May, remaining within 0.1 miles per hour of 5.9 miles per hour throughout.

For reference, on January 10, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 6.8 miles per hour, while on October 23, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 5.8 miles per hour.

The wind direction at Anaktuvuk Pass Airport during May is predominantly out of the south from May 1 to May 24 and the north from May 24 to May 31.

Definitions of the growing season vary throughout the world, but for the purposes of this report, we define it as the longest continuous period of non-freezing temperatures (≥ 32°F) in the year (the calendar year in the Northern Hemisphere, or from July 1 until June 30 in the Southern Hemisphere).

The growing season at Anaktuvuk Pass Airport typically lasts for 1.8 months (55 days), from around June 13 to around August 6, rarely starting before May 26, or ending after August 28.

The month of May at Anaktuvuk Pass Airport is more likely than not fully outside of the growing season, with the chance that a given day is in the growing season increasing from 0% to 19% over the course of the month.

Growing degree days are a measure of yearly heat accumulation used to predict plant and animal development, and defined as the integral of warmth above a base temperature, discarding any excess above a maximum temperature. In this report, we use a base of 50°F and a cap of 86°F.

The average accumulated growing degree days at Anaktuvuk Pass Airport are essentially constant during May, remaining within 7°F of 7°F throughout.

This section discusses the total daily incident shortwave solar energy reaching the surface of the ground over a wide area, taking full account of seasonal variations in the length of the day, the elevation of the Sun above the horizon, and absorption by clouds and other atmospheric constituents. Shortwave radiation includes visible light and ultraviolet radiation.

The average daily incident shortwave solar energy at Anaktuvuk Pass Airport is gradually increasing during May, rising by 0.6 kWh, from 5.0 kWh to 5.6 kWh, over the course of the month.

For the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Anaktuvuk Pass Airport are 68.137 deg latitude, -151.739 deg longitude, and 2,142 ft elevation.

The topography within 2 miles of Anaktuvuk Pass Airport contains large variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 2,018 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 2,361 feet. Within 10 miles contains large variations in elevation (4,491 feet). Within 50 miles also contains extreme variations in elevation (6,778 feet).

The area within 2 miles of Anaktuvuk Pass Airport is covered by grassland (61%) and sparse vegetation (33%), within 10 miles by sparse vegetation (40%) and grassland (30%), and within 50 miles by grassland (32%) and shrubs (31%).