What Köppen climate classification does Utqiaġvik (Barrow), Alaska have? It has an ET tundra climate. The town’s far-northern location produces long, cold winters and summers so cool that the warmest month remains below the threshold for a forest-supporting climate.
Utqiaġvik sits on Alaska’s North Slope, about 330 miles north of the Arctic Circle, beside the Arctic Ocean. Sea ice and cold ocean water moderate the most extreme temperature swings, but they also keep summer temperatures low. The surrounding landscape is treeless Arctic tundra, with low plants such as mosses, lichens, grasses, and small shrubs rather than trees.
In the Köppen system, ET is defined by a warmest-month average between 0°C and 10°C. That distinguishes tundra from EF, the ice-cap climate, where every month averages below 0°C. Utqiaġvik is not permanently ice-covered, so EF is incorrect. It is also colder than Dfc subarctic locations, whose warmest month averages above 10°C.
The city was officially renamed Utqiaġvik in 2016, restoring an Iñupiat name; Barrow remains widely recognized as its former English name.