Alaska has more than 40% or the entire nation's free flowing (not
frozen) surface water. Alaska has more than 3 million lakes, over
12,000 rivers, and thousands of streams and creeks. Alaska is one-fifth
the landmass of the contiguous states. With Alaska, superimposed over
the lower 48 states, its borders reach from Florida to Canada to off
the coast of southern California. Average annual precipitation in
southeast Alaska exceeds 150 inches, compared to areas north of the
Arctic Circle that have less than 2 inches of precipitation a year.
Many southeast areas experience over 300 inches of precipitation a year. The longest sustained drought in southeast Alaska was 9 days. About 3/4 of all fresh water in Alaska is stored in glacial ice. Glaciers and ice fields cover approximately 5% of Alaska, about 30,000 square miles (the size of Maine). The largest Alaskan glacier is the Bering (including the Bagley Ice-field), which is 4,681 square miles. Seventy percent (70%) of all fresh water on our planet is frozen.