WINDS IN THE ALASKAN AREA 



Here Bering Strait and the land areas immediately to the east 

 and west, being low in elevation, present no obstacle to the free 

 interchange of air between the arctic basin and the region of the 

 Bering Sea. During the winter there is a prevailing northerly 

 wind through this region. This northerly flow of cold air re- 

 plenishes the air lost through the flow of air from the Bering Sea 

 into the Pacific Ocean during the winter season, at which time the 

 Aleutian Low is well pronounced. The surface winds and upper 

 winds at Nome, Alaska, confirm this. Sixty percent of the surface 

 winds at Nome are from north to east-northeast at about 10 m. p. h. 

 and continue from that quadrant up to 6,000 feet. At 10,000 to 

 13,000 feet the winds back to a northerly quadrant and about 50 

 percent are from that direction with an average velocity of 

 24 m. p. h. 



Autumn winds at Nome are similar to those in winter, with 64 

 percent of the surface winds from the quadrant between north- 

 northwest and east-northeast averaging 8 m. p. h. At 10,000 feet 

 55 percent of the winds fall in that segment between north and 

 northeast, with an average velocity of 21 m. p. h. However, in 

 spring and summer when the Aleutian pressure system is less pro- 

 nounced and farthest south, there is no such marked prevalence in 

 direction aloft as there is in fall and winter. It can be said that 

 there is a noticeable absence of southerly winds at 10,000 to 13,000 

 feet, all other directions being represented. 



The wind regime of Alaska, like that of eastern Siberia, is to 

 some extent monsoonal in character. In the warmest months a 

 thermal low develops over the interior of Alaska whereas in winter 

 high pressures are present. As a result winter winds at Fairbanks 

 are regulated by the Alaskan and polar high pressure systems and 

 by the proximity of the Aleutian low pressure system to the south. 

 Surface winds at Fairbanks are light as that settlement is located 

 in a sheltered valley. The average winter surface velocity is 

 between 4 and 5 m. p. h. 



Immediately above the surface at 1,500 feet 71 percent are east- 

 northeast to east-southeast at 13 m. p. h. But with increasing 

 height there is a veering of the wind and at 10,000 feet 43 percent 

 are south to west-southwest at 21 m. p. h. At 13,000 feet winds 

 from the south to northwest at 22 m. p. h. have the greatest fre- 

 quency. 



Winds of spring at Fairbanks, like those of winter, veer from the 



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