The treacherous weather being reported across the nation may pale in comparison to what’s happening at one Alaska national park, where just over 6 feet of snow fell in December. According to the Bellingham Herald Denali National Park got an average of 2.5 inches a day — for 29 days, the National Park Service says.

That’s a lot, even by Alaska’s hefty standards. Just over 74 inches of snow fell at the park Dec. 1-29, “making this the snowiest December on record.” Most of it (54.8 inches) came Dec. 23-29, the park said. “Sixty inches (five feet) of snow were on the ground on December 29th, which sets a new record for highest snow depth,” the park wrote Dec. 31 on Facebook.

The numbers are in: it’s been a record-breaking week in Denali! Here are the stats, as measured by the Denali National Park Headquarters weather station. The record from this weather station dates back to 1923. – 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 the highest snow depth.


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The heavy snow that fell in these storms also contained more water than usual, so we’ve smashed some precipitation records too! 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 this December through the 29th, making this the wettest December on record and the second wettest month on record after August 2019.