© NWS-Fairbanks
Snow falls in Utqiagvik - formerly Barrow - Alaska on July 7, 2018.
Alaska's showed off its weather contrasts the first week of July with record snow in the north and record heat in the south.
Wet snow mixed in with rain Saturday evening in Utqiagvik, formerly known as Barrow, as an Arctic Ocean storm pushed a cold front through, dropping 2 inches of wet snow.
This was the heaviest July snow in America's northernmost town since the Fourth of July 1963, according to Rick Thoman, climate science and services manager for the National Weather Service Alaska region.
A web cam Saturday evening showed a light coating of wet snow mainly on building roofs and vehicle tops.
Snow can fall in any month in Utqiagvik. Even during the warmest time of year, average low temperatures are still in the middle 30s, cold enough to allow snowflakes aloft to make it to the ground.
Before Saturday, there had been only five other July days with at least 2 inches of snowfall in Utqiagvik, according to NOAA's ACIS database with records dating to 1902.
Other than July 4, 1963, the four other days occurred either in the 1920s or 1930s, led by a 6-inch snowfall on July 29, 1922.
Comment: While it is true many parts of the planet are suffering unusually high temperatures, prolonged heatwaves and exceptional drought, it's also true that much more of the planet, as well as the global trend, is towards dramatic cooling: