26 
ALASKA. 
division, which may be termed temperate Alaska. The temperature rarely falls 
to zero; winter does not set in until December l, and by the last of May the 
snow has disappeared except on the mountains. The mean winter temperature 
of Sitka is 32.5 degrees, but little less than that of Washington, D. C. While 
Sitka is fully exposed to the sea influence, places farther inland, but not over 
the coast range of mountains, as Killisnoo and Juneau, have also mild tempera¬ 
tures throughout the winter months. The temperature changes from month to 
month in temperate Alaska are small, not exceeding 25 degrees from midwinter 
to midsummer. The average temperature of July, the warmest month of sum¬ 
mer, rarely reaches 55 degrees, and the highest temperature of a single day 
seldom reaches 75 degrees. 
The rainfall of temperate Alaska is notorious the world over, not only as 
regards the quantity that falls, but also as to the manner of its falling, viz, in long 
and incessant rains and drizzles. Cloud and fog naturally abound, there being 
on an average but sixty-six clear days in the year. 
Alaska is a land of striking contrasts, both in climate as well as topography. 
When the sun shines the atmosphere is remarkably clear ; the scenic effects are 
magnificent; all nature seems to be in holiday attire. But the scene may change 
very quickly; the sky becomes overcast; the winds increase in force; rain 
begins to fall; the evergreens sigh ominously, and utter desolation and loneli¬ 
ness prevail. 
North of the Aleutian Islands the coast climate becomes more rigorous in 
winter, but in summer the difference is much less marked. Thus, at St. Michaels, 
a short distance north of the mouth of the Yukon, the mean summer tempera¬ 
ture is 50 degrees, but 4 degrees cooler than Sitka. The mean summer tem¬ 
perature of Point Barrow, the most northerly point in the United States, is 
36.8 degrees, but four-tenths of a degree less than the temperature of the air 
flowing across the summit of Pikes Peak, Colo. 
The rainfall of the coast region north of the Yukon Delta is small, diminishing 
to less than ten inches within the arctic circle. 
The climate of the interior, including in that designation practically all of the 
country except a narrow fringe of coastal margin and the territory before 
referred to as temperate Alaska, is one of extreme rigor in winter, with a brief, 
but relatively hot, summer, especially when the sky is free from clouds. 
In the Klondike region in midwinter, the sun rises from 9.30 to 10 a. m., and 
sets from 2 to 3 p. m., the total length of daylight being about four hours. 
Remembering that the sun rises but a few degrees above the horizon, and that 
it is wholly obscured on a great many days, the character of the winter months 
may easily be imagined. 
We are indebted to the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey for a series 
of six months’ observations on the Yukon, not far from the site of the present 
