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Nome
Sitŋasuaq (Inupiaq) | |
|---|---|
| City of Nome | |
.jpg) Steadman Street in Nome, looking north from King Place, in May 2002 | |
 Seal | |
 Location of Nome, Alaska | |
  Nome  Nome | |
| Coordinates: 64°30′14″N 165°23′58″W / 64.50389°N 165.39944°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Alaska |
| Census Area | Nome |
| Incorporated | April 12, 1901[1] |
| Founded by | Jafet Lindeberg, Erik Lindblom, and John Brynteson |
| Government | |
| • Type | Council-Manager |
| • Mayor | John Handeland[2] |
| • State senator | Donald Olson (D) |
| • State rep. | Neal Foster (D) |
| Area | |
| • Total | 21.49 sq mi (55.7 km2) |
| • Land | 12.80 sq mi (33.2 km2) |
| • Water | 8.69 sq mi (22.5 km2) |
| Elevation | 20 ft (6 m) |
| Population (2020) | |
| • Total | 3,699 |
| • Density | 289.01/sq mi (111.59/km2) |
| • Demonym | Nomeite Noman |
| • Census Area | 9,492 |
| Time zone | UTC−9 (Alaska (AKST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−8 (AKDT) |
| ZIP Code | 99762 |
| Area code | 907 |
| FIPS code | 02-54920 |
| GNIS IDs | 1407125, 2419435 |
| Website | www |
Nome (/ˈnoʊm/; (Inupiaq: Sitŋasuaq, pronounced [sitŋɐsuɑq], also Sitŋazuaq, Siqnazuaq)) is a city in the Nome Census Area in the Unorganized Borough of the US state of Alaska. The city is located on the southern Seward Peninsula coast on Norton Sound of the Bering Sea. It had a population of 3,699 recorded in the 2020 census, up from 3,598 in 2010.[4] Nome was incorporated on April 9, 1901. It was once the most-populous city in Alaska. Nome lies within the region of the Bering Straits Native Corporation, which is headquartered in Nome.
In prehistory, Nome was home to Iñupiat natives. The area came to Western attention in 1898, when three Nordic-Americans discovered gold on the ocean shores of Nome, prompting the Nome Gold Rush. Within a year the city went from non-existent to a population of some 10,000. Gold mining continued to attract settlers into the early 1900s, but the city's population had fallen considerably by 1910. A series of fires and violent storms destroyed most of Nome's Gold Rush era buildings between 1905 and 1974. In the winter of 1925, a diphtheria epidemic raged among Alaska Natives in the Nome area. Fierce territory-wide blizzard conditions prevented the delivery of a life-saving diphtheria antitoxin serum by airplane from Anchorage. A relay of dog sled teams was organized to deliver the serum, which was successfully led by Balto and Togo. Today, the Iditarod Dog Sled Race follows the same route they took and ends in Nome.
In the 21st century, Nome's economy remains based around gold mining, which is now mostly carried out offshore. The city of Nome also claims to be home to the world's largest gold pan, although this claim has been disputed by the Canadian city of Quesnel, British Columbia.[5]
Etymology
The origin of the city's name "Nome" is debated; there are three theories. The first is that the name was given by Nome's founder, Jafet Lindeberg, an immigrant from Norway.[6] Nome appears as a toponym in several places in Norway.
A second theory is that Nome received its name through an error: allegedly when a British cartographer copied an ambiguous annotation made by a British officer on a nautical chart, while on a voyage up the Bering Strait. The officer had written "? Name" next to the unnamed cape. The mapmaker misread the annotation as "C. Nome", or Cape Nome, and used that name on his own chart;[7] the city in turn took its name from the cape. Noted toponymist and historian George R. Stewart favored this explanation, citing a letter from the British Admiralty which allegedly confirmed the story from historical records.[8]
The third proposed origin of the name is from a misunderstanding of the local Inupiaq word for "Where at?", Naami.[9]
In February 1899, some local miners and merchants voted to change the name from Nome to Anvil City, because of the confusion with Cape Nome, 12 miles (19 km) east, and the Nome River, the mouth of which is 4 mi (6.4 km) east of Nome. The United States Post Office in Nome refused to accept the change. Fearing a move of the post office to Nome City, a mining camp on the Nome River, the merchants unhappily agreed to change the name of Anvil City back to Nome.[6][10]
Geography and climate
Nome is located at 64°30′14″N 165°23′58″W / 64.50389°N 165.39944°W (64.503889, −165.399444).[11] According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 21.6 square miles (56 km2), of which 12.5 square miles (32 km2) is land and 9.1 square miles (23.6 km2) (41.99%) is water.
Nome has a subarctic climate (Köppen Dfc), closely bordering on a tundra, with long, very cold winters, and short, cool summers. However, conditions in both winter and summer are moderated by the city's coastal location; winters are less severe than in the Interior, and conversely, summers are lukewarm. For example, Fairbanks at a similar parallel quite far inland has much greater temperature swings with both very warm and cold temperatures throughout the year. Even so, Nome is influenced by Far East Russia's cold landmass and as a result the climate is much colder than in coastal Scandinavia at similar latitudes.
_-_Nome_Area,_AK(ThreadEx).svg)
The coldest month is January, averaging 5.6 °F (−14.7 °C), although highs on average breach the freezing point on 2–4 days per month from December to March and there are 76 days annually of 0 °F (−17.8 °C) or lower temperatures, which have been recorded as early as October 12 in 1996 and as late as May 5 in 1984. Average highs stay below freezing from late October until late April, and the average first and last dates of freezing lows are August 30 and June 9, respectively, a freeze-free period of 81 days. The warmest month is July, with an average of 52.0 °F (11.1 °C); temperatures rarely reach 80 °F (27 °C) or remain above 60 °F (16 °C) the whole night. Snow averages 82.8 inches (210 cm) per season, with the average first and last dates of measurable (≥0.1 inches or 0.25 centimetres) snowfall being October 4 and May 16; accumulating snow has not been officially observed in July or August. Precipitation is greatest in the summer months, and averages 17.22 inches (437.4 mm) per year. The annual average temperature is 28.0 °F (−2.2 °C).
Extreme temperatures range from −54 °F (−48 °C) on January 27–28, 1989 up to 86 °F (30 °C) on June 19, 2013, and July 31, 1977; the record cold daily maximum is −40 °F (−40 °C), set on January 28–29, 1919, while, conversely, the record warm daily minimum is 64 °F (18 °C) on July 20, 1993, and August 14, 1926.[12] The coldest day of the year averaged −17 °F (−27 °C) in the 1991 to 2020 normals, while the warmest night average was at 57 °F (14 °C).[12] The coldest has been February 1990 with a mean temperature of −17.2 °F (−27.3 °C), while the warmest month was August 1977 at 56.3 °F (13.5 °C); the annual mean temperature has ranged from 21.1 °F (−6.1 °C) in 1920 to 32.5 °F (0.3 °C) in 2016.[12]
Bering Sea water temperatures around Nome vary during summer from 34 to 48 °F (1.1 to 8.9 °C).[13]
| Climate data for Nome Airport, Alaska (1991–2020 normals,[a] extremes 1906–present[b]) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °F (°C) | 51 (11) |
48 (9) |
44 (7) |
60 (16) |
78 (26) |
86 (30) |
86 (30) |
83 (28) |
71 (22) |
59 (15) |
50 (10) |
43 (6) |
86 (30) |
| Mean maximum °F (°C) | 34.6 (1.4) |
35.3 (1.8) |
34.4 (1.3) |
43.3 (6.3) |
63.0 (17.2) |
72.8 (22.7) |
74.8 (23.8) |
68.7 (20.4) |
60.3 (15.7) |
47.5 (8.6) |
38.0 (3.3) |
34.0 (1.1) |
77.4 (25.2) |
| Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 13.2 (−10.4) |
16.8 (−8.4) |
17.6 (−8.0) |
29.4 (−1.4) |
43.6 (6.4) |
55.1 (12.8) |
57.7 (14.3) |
56.0 (13.3) |
49.0 (9.4) |
36.0 (2.2) |
24.3 (−4.3) |
16.2 (−8.8) |
34.6 (1.4) |
| Daily mean °F (°C) | 5.6 (−14.7) |
9.0 (−12.8) |
9.6 (−12.4) |
22.7 (−5.2) |
37.3 (2.9) |
48.3 (9.1) |
52.0 (11.1) |
50.2 (10.1) |
43.1 (6.2) |
30.4 (−0.9) |
18.2 (−7.7) |
9.1 (−12.7) |
28.0 (−2.2) |
| Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | −2.0 (−18.9) |
1.3 (−17.1) |
1.6 (−16.9) |
15.9 (−8.9) |
30.9 (−0.6) |
41.5 (5.3) |
46.3 (7.9) |
44.4 (6.9) |
37.2 (2.9) |
24.9 (−3.9) |
12.2 (−11.0) |
2.0 (−16.7) |
21.4 (−5.9) |
| Mean minimum °F (°C) | −28.0 (−33.3) |
−26.3 (−32.4) |
−20.5 (−29.2) |
−7.8 (−22.1) |
17.4 (−8.1) |
30.9 (−0.6) |
36.4 (2.4) |
32.2 (0.1) |
23.6 (−4.7) |
8.6 (−13.0) |
−8.0 (−22.2) |
−21.8 (−29.9) |
−31.4 (−35.2) |
| Record low °F (°C) | −54 (−48) |
−42 (−41) |
−46 (−43) |
−30 (−34) |
−11 (−24) |
20 (−7) |
28 (−2) |
23 (−5) |
9 (−13) |
−10 (−23) |
−39 (−39) |
−42 (−41) |
−54 (−48) |
| Average precipitation inches (mm) | 0.94 (24) |
0.99 (25) |
0.74 (19) |
0.74 (19) |
0.89 (23) |
0.99 (25) |
2.35 (60) |
3.22 (82) |
2.20 (56) |
1.84 (47) |
1.27 (32) |
1.05 (27) |
17.22 (437) |
| Average snowfall inches (cm) | 13.4 (34) |
14.7 (37) |
10.7 (27) |
6.8 (17) |
1.9 (4.8) |
0.2 (0.51) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.5 (1.3) |
4.7 (12) |
12.1 (31) |
15.8 (40) |
80.8 (205) |
| Average extreme snow depth inches (cm) | 20.9 (53) |
22.4 (57) |
23.1 (59) |
18.5 (47) |
7.0 (18) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.2 (0.51) |
1.8 (4.6) |
8.5 (22) |
14.4 (37) |
27.3 (69) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.01 inch) | 10.0 | 10.5 | 8.8 | 7.9 | 8.8 | 8.7 | 12.6 | 14.8 | 13.6 | 12.9 | 11.0 | 11.4 | 131.0 |
| Average snowy days (≥ 0.1 in) | 11.0 | 11.4 | 9.8 | 7.6 | 2.8 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 5.5 | 10.5 | 12.3 | 71.9 |
| Average relative humidity (%) | 72.3 | 69.4 | 70.6 | 73.7 | 73.7 | 74.1 | 78.5 | 79.7 | 75.1 | 74.1 | 74.5 | 71.6 | 73.9 |
| Average dew point °F (°C) | 0.3 (−17.6) |
−3.6 (−19.8) |
1.2 (−17.1) |
11.5 (−11.4) |
27.7 (−2.4) |
37.6 (3.1) |
44.8 (7.1) |
44.4 (6.9) |
35.1 (1.7) |
20.8 (−6.2) |
9.7 (−12.4) |
0.3 (−17.6) |
19.2 (−7.1) |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 62.2 | 140.1 | 205.0 | 245.3 | 290.3 | 275.3 | 250.3 | 178.1 | 153.6 | 116.7 | 66.4 | 53.0 | 2,036.3 |
| Percent possible sunshine | 37 | 59 | 56 | 54 | 50 | 43 | 41 | 35 | 39 | 39 | 35 | 41 | 45 |
| Source: NOAA (sun, relative humidity, and dew point 1961–1990, snow depth 1981–2010))[12][14][15][16] | |||||||||||||
 | Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org. |
See or edit raw graph data.
| Coastal temperature data for Nome | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average sea temperature °F (°C) | 28.9 (-1.72) |
28.9 (-1.72) |
28.9 (-1.72) |
28.9 (-1.72) |
30.7 (-0.72) |
43.0 (6.11) |
50.5 (10.28) |
51.4 (10.78) |
47.7 (8.72) |
41.2 (5.11) |
31.8 (-0.11) |
29.5 (-1.39) |
36.8 (2.66) |