Utqiaġvik hits record April high of 31 degrees, warming North Slope

A 31-degree afternoon in Utqiaġvik pushed the northernmost community in the United States past an April temperature mark that had stood since 1989, a warm spell that raised breakup-flooding concerns across the North Slope and changed the conditions people depend on for travel and work.

The National Weather Service said a preliminary record high of 31 degrees was set at Utqiaġvik, also known as Barrow, on April 10, breaking the previous April record of 27 degrees set in 1989. The station’s monthly climate data for April 2026 shows 31 degrees as the month’s highest temperature, and the climate record period for the Utqiaġvik (Barrow) climate station runs back to 1920.

The warmth mattered far beyond a single reading. The National Weather Service Alaska-Pacific River Forecast Center’s spring breakup outlook for April 10 put the North Slope in an elevated breakup-flooding risk category, alongside parts of the middle Yukon, lower Yukon and lower Kuskokwim. In a place where spring temperatures shape ice conditions, travel routes and the timing of seasonal work, even a few degrees can change how safely people move across land and sea ice and how quickly conditions begin to loosen.

The spell was not steady. By April 13, the National Weather Service climate summary for Utqiaġvik showed an observed maximum of 12 degrees, a reminder that sharp swings can still hit the coast even after a record warm day. But the April 10 high stood out in the station record and underscored how quickly spring can shift on the North Slope, where late-season warmth can speed breakup concerns and complicate the decisions that hunters, drivers and crews make from one day to the next.