Pattern Correlations with Temperature

This is a quick post to show a series of figures that I created recently while examining the connection between Bering Sea pressure anomalies and temperatures in Fairbanks.  Each of the maps below shows the correlation between monthly-mean sea-level pressure (left) or 500 mb height (right) with the monthly-mean temperature in Fairbanks.  It's interesting to see the seasonal progression of pressure patterns that tend to favor either unusual warmth or unusual coolness in Fairbanks.

Here are a few features that jump out at me; perhaps readers would like to suggest others.

- Upper-level heights over northwest Canada are strongly connected to Fairbanks temperatures in most months, but in summer the area of highest positive correlation shrinks and doesn't extend much beyond the borders of Alaska.

- In June the semi-permanent connection between Bering Sea low pressure and Fairbanks warmth (or high pressure and coolness) all but vanishes.  However, it starts to return already in July.

- There is an interesting difference between December and January, with December temperatures being most strongly connected to Bering Sea conditions, but with January temperatures being more heavily influenced by flow features to the east.