Alaskan Summers

Alaskan summers are great, because the weather is mild, the days are long and even at night the sun is never far below the horizon. (Alaska is not the place to go to see fireworks on the Fourth of July, because in most of the state it just doesn't get dark enough -- even after midnight -- to show them to best advantage.) The further north you go, the more daylight you get. In Anchorage, it's possible to read a book outside at midnight in late June. In Barrow, on Alaska's North Slope, it doesn't get dark at all for several months.

Alaska is a big state so the range of weather in any season is wide. It can be wet in Southeast Alaska, where the state capital, Juneau, is located. Southeast Alaska even has a rainforest: The Tongass National Forest. Coastal areas -- and Alaska has a lot of coast, as much as the other 49 states combined -- get more rain in the summer than do places further inland. The warmest summer weather is found in inland Alaska, including the area around Fairbanks, Alaska's second largest city. Because Anchorage is surrounded by mountains -- this photo was taken from the slope of one -- it is rarely windy there. Although summer temperatures are usually in the 60s and 70s (Fahrenheit) it usually feels warmer because of the lack of wind.

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