Annette Island
Annette Island or Taak'w Aan is an island in Gravina Islands of the Alexander Archipelago of the Pacific Ocean on the southeastern coast of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is at 55°08′06″N 131°27′21″W / 55.13500°N 131.45583°W. It is about 18 km (11 mi) long and about 18 km (11 mi) wide. The land area is 332.573 km2 (128.407 sq mi). Annette Island is located across the Revillagigedo Channel from the Alaska mainland on the east and across from Revillagigedo Island on the north. The Island was named for Annette Whitney Dall by William Healey Dall in 1879.[1]
The meaning of the Tlingit name for the island is Winter Town.
Community and demographics
The largest settlement on the island is Metlakatla. Metlakatla is a native Community founded by the Anglican missionary William Duncan. The entire island is a Native reservation, the only one in Alaska. The island's population was 1,447 at the 2000 census.[2] The island is composed mainly of Tsimshian natives and is a cultural crossroads for Tlingit and Haida Natives as well. There exists a network of unimproved roads and trails on the island as a result of logging in the past.
Climate
The lower elevations of Annette Island have a Marine west coast climate (Köppen Cfb), with windy and wet weather year-round, cool winters, and mild summers, and straddle the border between USDA Plant Hardiness Zones 7 and 8.[4] Due to its southerly and maritime location, with an annual mean temperature of 46.6 °F (8.1 °C), the Annette Island Airport is one of the warmest locations statewide. Most days during the winter see precipitation fall, and the seasonal total snowfall of 33.5 inches (85 cm) occurs mostly from November to March, with some accumulation during April and falls in May and October relatively rare; warm spells raise the high to 50 °F (10 °C) for several days each month. During summer, there is an average of 17 days with 70 °F (21 °C)+ highs, and rain still falls on around half of the days. Precipitation averages more than 101 inches (2.57 m) annually, with June and July being the driest months and October and November the wettest. Extreme temperatures have ranged from −4 °F (−20 °C) on January 30, 1947 up to 93 °F (34 °C) on June 19, 2004, with the temperature having fallen below 0 °F (−18 °C) only on a handful of occasions. In addition, the Annette Island Airport holds the Alaska state monthly record high temperatures for April (82 °F or 28 °C on April 29, 1976) and November (67 °F or 19 °C on November 1, 1970).[5]
| Climate data for Annette Island Airport, Alaska (1981–2010 normals) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °F (°C) | 61 (16) |
65 (18) |
64 (18) |
82 (28) |
88 (31) |
93 (34) |
90 (32) |
90 (32) |
82 (28) |
71 (22) |
67 (19) |
62 (17) |
93 (34) |
| Average high °F (°C) | 41.6 (5.3) |
42.7 (5.9) |
44.9 (7.2) |
50.2 (10.1) |
56.3 (13.5) |
61.1 (16.2) |
64.3 (17.9) |
64.7 (18.2) |
59.3 (15.2) |
51.6 (10.9) |
44.6 (7) |
41.5 (5.3) |
51.9 (11.1) |
| Average low °F (°C) | 32.4 (0.2) |
32.7 (0.4) |
34.5 (1.4) |
38.2 (3.4) |
44.0 (6.7) |
49.2 (9.6) |
52.9 (11.6) |
53.1 (11.7) |
48.4 (9.1) |
41.9 (5.5) |
35.4 (1.9) |
32.8 (0.4) |
41.3 (5.2) |
| Record low °F (°C) | −4 (−20) |
2 (−17) |
1 (−17) |
3 (−16) |
30 (−1) |
37 (3) |
40 (4) |
40 (4) |
30 (−1) |
18 (−8) |
−3 (−19) |
1 (−17) |
−4 (−20) |
| Average precipitation inches (mm) | 10.73 (272.5) |
7.30 (185.4) |
8.04 (204.2) |
6.77 (172) |
5.56 (141.2) |
4.88 (124) |
4.64 (117.9) |
6.95 (176.5) |
9.79 (248.7) |
13.92 (353.6) |
12.29 (312.2) |
10.72 (272.3) |
101.61 (2,580.9) |
| Average snowfall inches (cm) | 7.8 (19.8) |
7.0 (17.8) |
6.5 (16.5) |
1.4 (3.6) |
0.1 (0.3) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0.1 (0.3) |
3.3 (8.4) |
7.4 (18.8) |
33.5 (85.1) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.01 in) | 22.1 | 17.6 | 21.6 | 18.8 | 15.9 | 15.4 | 14.9 | 15.8 | 18.7 | 23.6 | 23.6 | 23.0 | 231.0 |
| Average snowy days (≥ 0.1 in) | 5.4 | 4.5 | 4.7 | 1.6 | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 | 2.8 | 4.6 | 23.9 |
| Source: NOAA (extremes 1941–present)[6][7] | |||||||||||||
References
- ↑ Fuller, Myron F.; Sanford, Samuel (1906). Record of Deep-Well Drilling for 1905. Washington: Government Printing Office. p. 102. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
- ↑ Annette Island: Block Groups 1 and 2 and Blocks 3004 thru 3013, Block Group 3, Census Tract 4, Prince of Wales-Outer Ketchikan Census Area, Alaska United States Census Bureau
- ↑ Fact Sheet: Operation Alaskan Road:Joint Task Force Alaskan Road. Retrieved on February 6, 2008.
- ↑ http://www.arborday.org/treeinfo/ZoneInfo.cfm?ZipCode=99926&submit=Look+it+up%21
- ↑ All-time Statewide Daily Temperature Extremes
- ↑ "NOWData - NOAA Online Weather Data". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved 2013-03-12.
- ↑ "Station Name: AK ANNETTE ISLAND AP". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved 2013-03-12.