By SUZANNE DOWNING
Aug. 1, 2026 – Alaskans may have to endure a little teasing from the rest of the country this weekend: Anchorage has received its first-ever heat advisory, with temperatures expected to climb into the upper 70s.
The National Weather Service issued the advisory Friday morning for Anchorage, the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, parts of the Kenai Peninsula and portions of the Copper River Valley.
The Anchorage-area advisory runs through Saturday evening, while the advisory for the Central and Southern Copper River valleys and McCarthy remains in effect through 9 p.m. Sunday.
For residents of Arizona, Texas or Florida, a heat advisory for temperatures in the 70s may sound almost comical. The advisory is also less remarkable than the “first-ever” label suggests.
Anchorage has experienced hotter temperatures many times. The city’s record high for Aug. 1 is 79 degrees, set in 1978, while its all-time record is 90 degrees, recorded on July 4, 2019. Average highs during the first week of August are closer to 66 degrees.
The reason Anchorage has never had a heat advisory before is that the warning category itself is new to the area.
The National Weather Service only began allowing its Anchorage office to issue heat advisories in June. Before then, unusually warm conditions were generally communicated through special weather statements. Alaska’s first heat advisory was issued for the Fairbanks area in June 2025, when temperatures were forecast to reach the upper 80s.
In other words, this weekend’s advisory does not mean Anchorage has suddenly entered unprecedented meteorological territory. It means the federal weather service now has a more prominent way to alert the public when temperatures considered unusually warm for Southcentral Alaska may pose a health risk.
The threshold is necessarily different from the Lower 48. The theory is that a 78-degree day in Anchorage can affect people differently than the same temperature in a community where air conditioning is standard and residents have already acclimated to months of summer heat. Apparently, Alaskans don’t know how to cool off.
The National Weather Service recommends drinking plenty of fluids, limiting strenuous outdoor activity during the warmest part of the day and checking on elderly or vulnerable neighbors. Children and pets should never be left unattended in vehicles, which can heat rapidly even when outdoor temperatures seem moderate.
The good news is that Alaska’s brief brush with “extreme” heat will not last long. Cooler, wetter weather is expected to return to much of Southcentral early next week.
Until then, Anchorage residents may want to locate a fan, open a window and prepare for the oppressive burden of temperatures approaching 80 degrees, and some teasing from their lower 48 family and friends.
7 thoughts on “Heat advisory issued for Anchorage due to mild weather”
Whose stupid idea was it to put Anchorage, AK on an advisory. Sounds like a stupid millennial thing to do.
70’s is nothing while Oklahoma is experiencing 110!!!
Just like All hotter days don’t leave your pets and small children in the car unintended (even for a short time)
Heat advisory? Am I reading the Babylon Bee?
I wonder if a cold advisory will be issued when Phoenix reaches the 70’s? Probably not since it doesn’t fit the narrative.
Here’s a slightly different angle to analyze: When I first drove into Fairbanks in July 1975, it was 94*. At the height of pipeline construction, I actually found a small motel and asked the proprietor why he did not have air conditioning units. His answer made sense: “Why should I invest thousands of dollars in window units, to be used one month out of the year?” I have seen it in the upper 80s and mid 90s several times since. But now, we must recognize that the GOVERNMENT is our friend. The GOVERNMENT knows best. We need the GOVERNMENT. We must pay for the GOVERNMENT. CITIZENS, however, are stoooopid. Don’t believe in global warming? Why, global warming has now reached such unprecedented levels, that even Alaska gets heat advisories! Thank God for the GOVERNMENT. “Alaska is GROUND ZERO in the global warming crisis!” — Mark Begich, the ultra left US Senator of, thankfully, one term.
WARNING!!! WARNING!!!! DANGER!!! DANGER!!! THE SKY IS FALLING!!! THE SKY IS FALLING!!! Since when do we need the weather service to put fear in the public!!
there are those that still don’t know that the “global warming “ scheme has fallen by the wayside.
You can tell these individuals because they’re still wearing a mask AND reference that “newspaper “ Los Anchorage pretends they have. Can’t remember the name it goes by.