Baked Alaska: Heat records shattered across state

Doyle Rice | USA TODAY

Heat records have been shattered this week in Alaska, typically the USA's coldest state.

Deadhorse, located near the coast of the Arctic Ocean, skyrocketed to a record 85 degrees Wednesday, the warmest temperature ever recorded in that area, the National Weather Service said.

It was also the state's highest temperature ever measured within 50 miles of the Arctic, climatologist Brian Brettschneider, who lives in Alaska, said.

The average high temperature this time of year in Deadhorse is 57 degrees, Weather Underground reports.

Brettschneider also said the heat index at Tanana, Alaska, on Wednesday was 85 degrees. It was 88 degrees in Fairbanks on Wednesday, hotter than New York City's 85 degrees.

The heat wave follows a freakishly warm start to the year in Alaska. It was the warmest winter, spring and first six months of the year there, according to NOAA. So far in 2016, the state's average temperature is 30.4 degrees, some 9 degrees higher than normal.

The all-time record high temperature in Alaska is 100 degrees, set on June 27, 1915, in Fort Yukon.

The warmth in northern and central Alaska is not forecast to last, with a dramatic cool-down expected by the weekend and next week, the weather service said. Temperatures could drop to as much as 20 degrees below normal, and some freezing rain is possible in Barrow.