Record-breaking Anchorage weather provides unsurpassed training potential

Crew members prepare a U.S. Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet from the Strike Fighter Squadron 147, Naval Air Station Lemoore, Calif., after it returned from a mission during Exercise Northern Edge 15 from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, June 17, 2015. Northern Edge 15 is Alaska’s premier joint training exercise designed to practice operations, techniques and procedures as well as enhance interoperability among the services. Thousands of participants from all services, from active duty, Reserve and National Guard units, are involved. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. William Banton)‪

Record-breaking Anchorage weather provides unsurpassed training potential

A U.S. Air Force F-15C Eagle from the 67th Fighter Squadron at Kadena Air Base takes off during Exercise Northern Edge from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, June 16, 2015. Northern Edge 2015 is Alaska’s premier joint training exercise designed to practice operations, techniques and procedures as well as enhance interoperability among the services. Thousands of participants from all the services, from active duty, Reserve and National Guard units, are involved. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. William Banton)‪

Record-breaking Anchorage weather provides unsurpassed training potential

Published June 18, 2015
By Air Force Staff Sgt. William Banton
JBER JIB Public Affairs

JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska -- The first week of Exercise Northern Edge 15 has brought with it record-breaking high temperatures which for Alaska means perfect flying conditions for the joint training exercise.

"It is unseasonably warm up here, but hot for Alaska is still comparatively benign for the lower 48 states," said Capt. Richard Williams, 525 Fighter Squadron, F-22 Raptor pilot. "The heat itself hasn't really thrown us off but the clarity and the nice weather we are experiencing has simplified things greatly."

Significantly warmer than average sea temperatures have movedwarmer air into the upper-levels of the atmosphere, said Air Force Capt. Carl Densford, 3rd Operations Support Squadron Weather commander. This has altered the pattern of the Jetstream just enough that higher pressure is overhead preventing weather systems from affecting the local area.

"Normally weather is very much a factor that we have to contend with up here, " Williams said. "It's something we have to plan around and it can often complicate our missions, but the past few days have been beautiful. It has let us focus on our tactics and our execution."

The perfect flying conditions come during the second driest summer in the last 30 years, said Technical Sgt. William Thornton, 3rd OSS Weather, non-commissioned officer in charge of airfield management services.

"This year has been a truly unusual time for Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson and the Anchorage Bowl," Densford said. "We were several feet below our average annual snowfall and have experienced more thunderstorms in the local area in the months of April and May than we see all year."

Climate statistics for JBER suggest that thunderstorms, which can impede flying, are very rare. The local area average is supposed to be one thunderstorm per year, but the past two years have proven these stats wrong.

"I've only been here for two years, but by mid-June each year we surpass those numbers," Thornton said. "Our extreme max temperature is supposed to be 86 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer and we came to that a few days ago. This is definitely a unique season."