Yes, we do have summers in Alaska.

We're fond of joking around about the weather up here; a favorite is that Alaska has four seasons: June, July, August, and winter. That's an exaggeration, of course; we've had lovely days in late September where we sat outside on the deck. Our winters, though, are not to be taken lightly. Temps dropping in the 20s and 30s below zero is not unusual, even here in south-central Alaska.

Here, though, in the Susitna Valley, we're near enough to Cook Inlet to get a little of the ocean's moderating influence. The temperatures can be more extreme in the interior, and not just in winter but in summer as well. In fact, Alaska has had, on Saturday, been issued its first-ever heat advisory by the National Weather Service.

But it's not climate change. It's just a change in procedure.

For the first time ever, parts of Alaska will be under a heat advisory — but you can put an asterisk at the end of that term.

It’s not the first instance of unusually high temperatures in what many consider the nation’s coldest state, but the National Weather Service only recently allowed for heat advisories to be issued there. Information on similarly warm weather conditions previously came in the form of “special weather statements.”

Using the heat advisory label could help people better understand the weather’s severity and potential danger, something a nondescript “special weather statement” didn’t convey.

The first advisory is for Sunday in Fairbanks, where temperatures are expected to top 85 degrees Fahrenheit (29 degrees Celsius). Fairbanks has has been warmer in the past, but this is unusual for June, officials said.

Fairbanks is, of course, in the interior, north of Broad Pass, and routinely sees higher highs and lower lows than areas nearer the ocean. This isn't anything new.

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Of course, warm weather like this - and Fairbanks has been known to have summer temps in the 90s - causes problems in Alaska that it doesn't cause in other places. For one thing, almost nobody has air conditioning in their homes or indeed in many places of business. Why would you, when you might only need it two or three times a year, if at all? On those rare, unseasonably warm days, some of us will hop in the truck and go for a drive, because most newer vehicles do have air conditioning, and on those uncomfortably warm days, it does seem like traffic on the Parks Highway picks up.

More to the point, though, houses here are built to retain heat, not to shed it. In our home and in our little office building, we have many large south-facing windows to maximize the passive solar heating. Under our house is an enormous stone heat-sink, and when we run the wood stove in winter, some of the hot air is channeled down there to keep that big pile of stone warm, which helps keep the house warm, hours after the fire has gone out. Up here, keeping a house warm is a far bigger concern than keeping it cool, which can make unseasonably warm days a trifle uncomfortable.

But, it's still Alaska. The warm weather never lasts too long, and it will be winter again before we know it.

Here in our Susitna Valley digs, as of this writing, it's 62 degrees and sunny. For mid-June, that's just fine and dandy.

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