The climate in Alaska is unique in many ways that change the desired building standard. The climate is extreme, without question, with as much as 22 feet of snow in the winter and below freezing temperatures for months on end. However, other conditions exist that are potentially beneficial to an architectural design, such as extended hours of daylight in the summer months and unusually shallow bedrock in many regions. These conditions are currently not utilized because of the deviation from more traditional building standards in the lower states. The employment of these defining characteristics will not only help with the efficiency of a building, but could also work to reestablish the vernacular architecture of the Alaskan people and even potentially form a modern style unique to the region.
These graphs show the variation in climate throughout the state in the most extreme conditions (January and July) and the annual amount of daylight hours. The daylight hour chart compares the hours of Alaska with other states. The climatic chart demonstrates the temperature variation even within the state of Alaska.