Los Angeles: Temperatures in Alaska's largest city of Anchorage have soared to a sweltering all-time record of 32 degrees Celsius (90 degrees Fahrenheit) as a heat wave grips the US state which straddles the Arctic Circle.
"At 5pm this afternoon, Anchorage International Airport officially hit 90 degrees for the first time on record," tweeted the National Weather Service (NWS) late on Thursday.
The previous record was 29.4 degrees Celsius, set in June 1969.
The average high temperature for July 4 in Anchorage, located in southern Alaska, is a far cooler 18.3 degrees Celsius.
"Several all-time high temperature records were set at official observation sites throughout southern Alaska," the agency added on Friday.
The abnormally warm weather is being caused by a "giant ridge of high pressure sitting right over us", NWS meteorologist Bill Ludwig told the Anchorage Daily News.
Alaska had earlier broken temperature records throughout a hot spring, particularly in the Arctic zone which is especially sensitive to climate change.
According to scientists, Alaska is warming at twice the rate of the global average.
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