AccuWeather.com

By Brian Edwards, Meteorologist

Feb 13, 2012; 2:21 PM ET

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The sun sets over open water of Campbell Creek on Monday, Jan. 2, 2012, in Anchorage, Alaska. Extreme cold temperatures have so far spared Anchorage, where the daily high has reached above zero every day this week. That's in contrast to a cold snap engulfing interior Alaska, including McGrath, where the high Tuesday was 37 degrees below zero and the low was 51 degrees below zero. (AP Photo/Dan Joling)

Winter has been nothing less than a roller-coaster ride for residents of Alaska. November and January featured frigid air and plenty of snowfall, while December was a little milder overall. Just as the month turned over to February, a much milder weather pattern has set up, leading to above-normal temperatures and little precipitation.

Residents of Alaska have broken out the shorts and t-shirts during the first 11 days of February... well maybe not quite the shorts just yet.

The pattern change occurred around the first of the month as the jet stream lifted to the north, allowing for warm Pacific storms to move into the state from the southwest. Storms coming in from that direction send a southerly flow of moist Pacific air into the state.

During the months of November and January, this path was blocked by large low pressure systems moving through the Gulf of Alaska. Storms in the Gulf of Alaska block the arctic air from flowing into the lower 48 states by keeping it bottled up in Alaska.

By contrast, below is a chart of temperature departures compared to normal for the entire month of January for selected cities:

The stark contrast has been a welcome sight for residents of the state after record snows affected coastal and interior cities.

Cordova, Alaska, was widely in the news during the early part of January after over 121 inches of snow fell during the months of November and December. They hadn't received that much snow in over 40 years. Entire homes in the small town were buried in the 4 and 5 feet of snow depth.

The city of Anchorage averages 74.5 inches of snow each winter. Through Feb. 11, it has already received 106.7 inches.

Residents of the state should enjoy the above-normal temperatures for at least the next week as multiple storms track in from the southwesterly direction. Though it will be mild, there will be plenty of opportunities for rain and snow, especially across coastal locations.