Baked Alaska is no longer just a dessert — now it’s also the state of the state. 

Daytime temperatures have reached record December highs this year in Alaska, which is experiencing an unusual winter warm spell.

On the island of Kodiak, temps hit 67 degrees Sunday, the highest ever recorded in Alaska in December, according to Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy scientist Rick Thoman, Reuters reported.

In Anchorage, where residents are used to plenty of snow and chilly air this time of year, thermometers topped 60 degrees. The record December heat wave has also subjected the region to much more rain than is typical (usually this time of year is quite dry for the state). 

Other extremes this month have included 65-degree days at the Kodiak airport and a record 62 degrees at the Alaska Peninsula community of Cold Bay. In the town of Unalaska, the weather has gone over 56 degrees at least eight times this December, including Christmas Day, when the 56-degree weather made it Alaska’s warmest ever recorded.

This climate situation, said Thoman, is “absurd.” 

It is not, however, totally unexpected: Alaska’s share of warm, wet mid-winters has significantly increased over the past 20 years in what Thoman says is a clear sign of climate change. “This is exactly what we expect in a warming world,” he told Reuters. 

The shift has already had negative impacts on residents, and the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities had to warn residents that roads would be in bad shape for a prolonged period due to the rock-hard ice coating that the combination of rain and snow has created on their surface. 

“Ice is extremely difficult to remove once it has binded to the road surface. Even though air temps were warm during #icemageddon2021, roads were at sub-zero temps, which caused ice to bind to the surface,” the department tweeted.