Best Time To Travel To: Alaska
Alaska is part of the USA but should be described separately as it is called a semi-exclave of the U.S. and is relatively clearly separated from the rest of the USA.
Alaska is the largest US state and is located in the extreme northwest of North America. There is a mountainous coastline and several offshore islets. There are borders with both canada and the Siberian coast. Basically Alaska is relatively mountainous, the northern foothills of the Rocky Mountains reach Alaska and form one of the highest mountains in North America. Here you can find many glaciers, which are often iced up to sea level. In the inland are large plains or valleys like the river valleys of Yukon and Porcupine.
South and southeastern Alaska experience a mid-latitude oceanic climate with a subarctic oceanic climate in the northern parts. Both inland and the north coast have a very cold Arctic climate, quite similar to northern Canada. The mountains here have snow all year round with ice and permafrost. The rivers are often frozen from September to May. Relatively typical for inland Alaska would be the climate table of Fairbanks.
Alaska has surprisingly "friendly" summers. They are short but nice with a large amount of sunny hours. On the other hand, the winters are quite long and severe and the winds make it even colder. But the precipitation in winter is rather low, it comes down mainly as snow. The most precipitation occurs in summer.
If you look at the climate table of Barrow on the Arctic Sea, for example, you can easily see how short the summers are. They are basically colder here than anywhere else. The sea is frozen almost the whole year and even in summer there can still be ice on the sea.
The climate on the Pacific coast is different. The amount of precipitation is higher and the weather is more changeable all year round. Summers are cool, but winters are less harsh than inland. On the Pacific coast you can expect clouds and fog virtually year-round. Anchorage is an example where winters are comparatively warmer than inland. However, the city is quite well protected in a bay on the west coast. So you may find warmer spots only on the offshore islands and the Aleutian Icelands. The coastal regions and the islands of Alaska are often compared with the coastal regions in Norway. Relatively typical would be the climate table of Atka e.g. for the climate on the Aleutian Icelands.
When is the best time to travel to Alaska
Roughly speaking the best time to travel is considered to be the period from May to October, In general, June and July are good months, although it must be said that the mosquitoes are quite active then. From August on Alaska can be interesting on the north coast with the "Indian Summer". Then you can find good conditions until September and October.
