Steel buildings in Alaska

The harsh and varied Alaskan climate calls for durable and flexible commercial steel buildings that can cope with everything from warm summers to powerful blizzards and tectonic activity. The climate of Alaska varies a lot from region to region and this must be taken into account when choosing between steel building designs. Alaska's interior is renowned for its subartic climate where the winters can bring temperatures down to −60 °F (-51 °C). Many people erroneously believe that the cold interior is subjected to a lot of snowfall, but the truth is that the annual precipitation often stays below 10 inches (250 mm). This means that cold – not heavy snow – is the primary weather condition to take into account when you purchase a commercial steel building for the Alaska interior.

In the northernmost parts of Alaska, the climate is polar with short, cool summers and very long winters. The short summer does not bring the warm temperatures of the interior and even in July the average low temperature stays around 34 °F (1 °C). Getting an Alaska steel building design that makes it easy to add plenty of insulation is therefore very important.

The wettest and warmest part of Alaska is the southeast coastal region, where the climate is similar to the oceanic climate of Seattle. South-eastern Alaska is the only part of Alaska where the average daytime high temperature is above the freezing point during the winter months. Since the climate in this region is much moister than in the rest of Alaska it places special requirements on both residential and commercial Alaska steel buildings.

In western Alaska, the climate is subarctic oceanic in the south and continental subarctic in the north. The expected annual precipitation varies a lot depending on which part of western Alaska you plan on erecting your steel building in; from 10 inches in the parts of the northernmost regions to 100 inches in a few locations between Dillingham and Bethel.

Other states: