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Winter Returns To Denali National Park In A Record-Setting Way

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Published Date

January 4, 2022

Denali National Park saw record-setting snowfall at park headquarters in December/NPS

Forgive drought-stressed parks for looking enviously at Denali National Park, which saw a record-setting 74.5 inches of snow fall during December, including nearly 55 inches from December 23 to December 29.

Measurements from the park's weather station (above), which has tracked weather since 1923 at headquarters, show just how snowy December was in Denali:

  • 54.8 inches of snow fell during the seven-day period of December 23–29.
  • 74.5 inches of snow fell this December through the 29th, making this the snowiest December on record.
  • 60 inches of snow were on the ground on December 29th, which sets a new record for highest snow depth.

The heavy snow that fell in these storms also contained more water than usual, park staff reports, so the month also "smashed some precipitation records! Precipitation measurements include rain and melted snow, in order to measure the total water that falls year-round as either rain or snow."

  • 5.75 inches of precipitation fell during the four-day period of December 26–29, making this the wettest four-day period on record.
  • 8.33 inches of precipitation fell through December 29th, making it the wettest December on record and the second-wettest month on record after August 2019.

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