many americans. extreme weather is gripping much of the country, shattering records, stunning climatologists one shocking example an area in southern alaska hit 67 degrees on sunday. alaska i said. setting a record for the warmest december day ever recorded there. it was warmer there than in southern california that same day. cnn's chief climate correspondent joins us now live. alaska experiencing very high temperatures this month higher than many experts thought was possible this time of the year. what's going on? >> reporter: this was so alarming, jake, that scientists, meteorologists, climatologists had to do a double take. fortunately, there were weather balloons going off at the same time, a thermometer at a tidal gauge in kodiak, alaska measured 67 degrees. it shattered the all time record before and at the same time bizarrely in nome, alaska they were getting dumped on with inches of rain and freezing rain and then 70-mile-per-hour winds. you don't even have to leave