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Beyond the Forecast

August 15 in Anchorage

Weather forecasts run out after about two weeks. For any date further out than that, the honest answer isn't a single number — it's the range Anchorage actually delivers on this date, and how often.

On August 15, Anchorage, AK typically reaches 69°F, but has run anywhere from 62°F to 75°F in eight years out of ten. About 33% of August 15s see no measurable precipitation.

Daytime high69°F
62°F8 years in 10 land in here75°F
Overnight low53°F
48°F8 years in 10 land in here58°F

The odds on August 15

33%
Dry day
No measurable precipitation

Odds computed from the last 30 years (19972026).

This date is moving

Highs around August 15 have warmed about 1.1°F per decade since 1970 — roughly 6.3°F across the record. The figures above are shifted along that trend to 2026, so they describe today's climate rather than the average of the last 56 years.

Where this comes from: 373 daily observations from ELMENDORF AFB, covering 19702026. We pool every day within 7 days of August 15 — a single calendar date has only about 56 readings, far too few to place a 10th percentile you'd want to trust.

Why it's not a plain average: A climatology computed straight across 19702026 describes the middle of that period, not today, so as a statement about the present it runs cold. We fit a trend on year and shift each observation to 2026 before taking the range. The probabilities use the last 30 years instead — shifting a temperature along a trend is well defined, shifting “did it rain” is not.

What this is not: Not a forecast. It is what Anchorage, AK has actually done on this date, which is the only defensible answer once you're past the two-week horizon where real forecasts stop. Data: NOAA NCEI GHCN-Daily.

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