CLIMATIC CONDITIONS OF ALASKA 133 



Today the question answers itself, and tens of thousands of 

 men eagerly search for reliable and satisfactory data on which 

 to base their plans and outfits for their search for fortunes in the 

 gold regions of the upper Yukon. It therefore seems timely to 

 bring together such observations of the climatic conditions of the 

 different parts of Alaska as may give at least a general idea as 

 to the weather to be encountered. 



Most extensive countries have two kinds of climate : first, 

 the continental type, where far from the sea we find hot sum- 

 mers, cold winters, light rainfalls, and much sunshine ; second, 

 the littoral or shore type, where the heat of summer and the cold 

 of winter are modified by moist winds from the ocean bringing 

 copious or heavy rains. To these Alaska adds a third kind, the 

 marine or island type, where the winters are, comparatively 

 speaking, unduly warm and the summers unduly cool, while 

 rains, fogs, and cloudiness are prevalent through the greater part 

 of the year. 



Considering first the marine climate, it is to be said that it 

 prevails on all the outlying islands of Alaska in the Aleutian 

 archipelago and in parts of the Alaskan peninsula. Naturally 

 the extremes of temperature become more marked to the north. 



The littoral or coast climate of Alaska is materially tempered 

 by the oceanic current usually known as the Japan stream, which 

 keeps at an abnormally high temperature the moisture-laden 

 winds that, blowing landward, deposit large quantities of rain 

 or snow, thus setting free large quantities of latent heat to warm 

 the land. The enormous quantity of such heat and its influence 

 on the temperature of the air may be imagined from Haughton's 

 calculations, which show that " one gallon of rainfall gives out 

 latent heat sufficient to melt seventy-five pounds of ice or to melt 

 4.5 pounds of cast iron." 



The settlers and miners of Alaska will find that the coast 

 conditions change rapidly as one goes inland to a continental 

 climate of the most pronounced type. Cool, cloudy, and rainy 

 summers, and raw, damp, foggy, and not very cold winters are 

 to be anticipated along the immediate main coast or the inlets. 

 Wherever rapidly rising shores are found the hills or mountains 

 are subject to heavy precipitation, with resulting deep snows 

 and low temperatures for a considerable part of the }^ear. 



Almost everywhere in Alaska the climate changes decidedly 

 within one hundred miles of the mainland coast and becomes 

 continental in its characteristics. Rain and snow are less fre- 



