About 0.8°F per decade, measured from Bethel's official daily weather records, 1971–2025. Individual years still bounce around — some recent ones came in cool — but the long-term line has clearly risen.
Is that a lot? Bethel's climate has warmed faster than most other cities in United States.
What has actually changed
Each card compares the 1970s (the first ten years of the
record) with recent years (the last ten) — the same span
the headline and the chart use.
Freezing nights
12 fewer nights
1970s
224 / yr
→
Recent
212 / yr
Milder winters — fewer frosts
Average temperature
+2.4°F
1970s
29.4°F
→
Recent
31.8°F
A steady upward drift
Hot days above 90°F
about the same
1970s
0 / yr
→
Recent
0 / yr
About the same number of heat days
Rainy days
19 more days
1970s
139 / yr
→
Recent
158 / yr
Wetter on average
Bethel's temperature, year by year
Average temperature for each year from 1971 to 2025.
a warmer-than-average year a cooler-than-average year
Each bar is one year. Most recent years sit above the older ones.
Some recent years still came in cool — warming is a slope,
not a straight climb.
In day-to-day terms, that long-term shift shows up as about 8 fewer freezing nights a year compared with the 1970s.
When in the year the change shows up
How much warmer each month is now than in the 1970s.
Useful if you garden or care about a particular season —
otherwise the headline above already has the answer.
February has warmed the most — about 6.0°F. The warming runs across the whole year, not just one season.
Methodology & sources
Temperature — the official 1991–2020 climate normals from NOAA's U.S. Climate Normals, measured at Bethel AP (NOAA GHCN station USW00026615), about 4 km from the city centre.