Dry eyes in Anchorage

Anchorage eyes deal with a heating season that runs most of the year, a dry climate by precipitation, strong gap winds near Turnagain Arm, and winter days so short that much of life moves indoors under lights and screens. Those conditions speed up tear evaporation. Protecting your eyes from wind, adding moisture to indoor air and using a lubricating drop as its label directs are reasonable steps.

How short the winter days are

The U.S. Naval Observatory’s sun calculator gives Anchorage a sunrise of 10:14 a.m. and a sunset of 3:41 p.m. on December 21, 2026. That’s about five and a half hours between sunrise and sunset. On June 21 the same calculator shows the sun rising at 4:20 a.m. and setting at 11:43 p.m.

The dark months shape eye habits in ways people don’t always connect to dryness. Commutes happen in the dark under headlights and streetlights. Evenings are long, so reading, gaming and streaming fill more hours. Focused screen work tends to lower how often you blink, and every skipped blink leaves the tear film exposed a little longer.

Turnagain Arm and the wind

Anchorage sits between the Chugach Mountains and the water, and wind gets funneled through gaps in that terrain. One National Weather Service Anchorage outlook warned of gusts as high as 70 mph along Turnagain Arm and Portage Valley. You don’t need a storm to feel it, though: a steady breeze along the Seward Highway pullouts, the Coastal Trail or the Hillside is enough to dry the surface of your eyes within minutes if you’re facing into it.

NOAA’s normals for Anchorage

The 1991–2020 climate normals for Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport put the city’s weather in numbers:

• Normal January high 22.7°F, low 11.0°F.
• July’s normal high is just 66.2°F.
• About 186 nights a year at or below freezing.
• Annual precipitation of only 16.42 inches, which is low for a coastal city.
• Normal snowfall of 77.9 inches, with December the snowiest month at 18.2 inches.
• About 9,979 heating degree days against fewer than 8 cooling degree days a year.

That last pair is the telling one. Anchorage barely needs cooling at all, but heating demand runs from early fall well into spring, and many homes run some heat even on summer nights. Indoor air in a heated house is drier than the air it came from, so for much of the year your eyes spend their indoor hours in it.

Anchorage routines that wear on the eyes

• Warming up the car in a dark driveway, then driving with the heater blowing at your face.
• Skiing or fat-tire biking on groomed trails in the cold, where your own speed adds to the wind.
• Hours in a heated office where the windows show only dark for most of the workday.
• Summer nights with daylight past 11 p.m., when people stay out later and sleep less.
• Flying out of Ted Stevens to the Lower 48, since cabin air is dry too; traveling with eye drops covers packing a bottle.

Practical steps

• Wear wraparound glasses or goggles on windy days and on trails.
• Run a humidifier in the room you sleep in, and keep it clean.
• Turn car vents down toward your hands and feet.
• Break up screen sessions with a deliberate few slow blinks and a look across the room.
• Keep your bottle indoors, not in the truck. The label says Store between 15° to 30°C (59° to 86°F), and an Anchorage vehicle sits below that range for months.

Where Quell comes in

The label’s Uses read: For use as a protectant against further irritation or to relieve dryness of the eye. Quell is designed to reinforce the tear film’s oil layer to help reduce moisture loss. Its active ingredients are Glycerol (1.0%), Polysorbate 80 (1.0%) and Light Mineral Oil (0.5%), and its directions are Apply 1 drop 3 times per day in each eye. Read the full Drug Facts before your first drop, including the caution about egg or bird allergies.

Ordering to Alaska

Quell ships to Alaska addresses from Brentwood, Tennessee. Shipping is $10.00 per order, and 3 bottles qualify for free shipping. No delivery date is promised for any order, so ordering before you’re down to your last few drops gives the package room. See the Anchorage page and the Alaska page.

Know when it’s more than dry air

Stop use and ask a doctor if you feel eye pain or changes in your vision, if irritation or redness continues, or if the condition worsens or persists for 72 hours. In Anchorage, as anywhere, a local eye doctor is the right call for symptoms that don’t fit the weather.

It also helps to notice when the dryness shows up. If it’s worst after a February commute, the heater and the dark are likely factors. If it lingers through June, when the sun is up for more than 19 hours and the furnace is mostly idle, mention that to the eye doctor too, because the usual winter explanations don’t fit as neatly.