Almost every time you see a temperature extreme it is accompanied by "This is the hottest or the coldest since whenever".  The temps have only been recorded of recent and of course there has to be a hottest and a coldest so now it's a big deal due to the media. Alaska once had very warm temps as witnesses by the fossils and that wasn't not the end of the world. Probably the worst change might be critters imported from the lower 48 that can finally survive the winters in Alaska and multiply.