Fairbanks, AK

One of the challenges of living in Alaska is dealing with a sometimes manic Mother Nature. The past couple of weeks we've watched as the temperature hovered between 40 and 65 below zero. Water and sewer lines froze, cars began to break down and people were on the verge of going a little stir crazy from being cooped up inside.

Yesterday Mother Nature changed everything. Warm winds blowing over the Alaska Range from the Gulf of Alaska brought record breaking temps to the Interior. In an instant we went from 62 below zero to nearly 50 above. Eielson Air Force Base, which is about 10 miles from our house, hit 51 degrees. We're all confused... guys are breaking out their fishing gear and women, those of a certain vintage anyway, began putting their unmentionables back in the freezer. Yes, Mother Nature is having a hot flash.

While it may feel like spring, old man winter still has a little fight left in him. These few days of warm weather will give way to a cold blast of 20 below air by Monday night. The good news is the Farmers Almanac predicts a warmer than normal August... you hear that Don? :)

Sometimes I think I've lived here a little too long. Things the rest of the world deems abnormal and simply intolerable I tend not to think too much about. Today, for example, was spent with a great couple who were referred to us by fellow 'Rainer Debbie White in Juneau. Despite the continuing cold we had a full slate of homes to see today.

We are seven days into what is now projected to be a fourteen to sixteen day cold snap. Waking up and seeing the thermometer outside our kitchen window read -54 BELOW zero has become the norm. Now, I just pour myself a cup of coffee, pop some toast in the toaster and fire up the computer to see what's going on in the world without a second thought about the temps.

Around 11:00 I start getting dressed.... It's all about layers when it's this cold... lots of them. Twenty minutes later I'm sufficiently ensconced in enough thermal layers to trek across Antarctica and head out the door. Kathy's on the couch under a sheepskin hide not looking the least bit interested in joining me. Smart woman. I open the garage door, ease the truck out and chuckle as I watch the temperature drop from a toasty 72 above inside the garage to -54 below zero in the time it takes me to get to the end of our driveway.

When it's this cold the ice fog is so thick you can practically cut it with knife and this morning was no exception. Heading in from North Pole visibility was down to less than 30'. It was like driving inside a giant cotton ball and this was with precious little traffic on the road. Monday morning when everyone and their brother heads to work it will be much, much worse.

No real surprises on the tour today... it seems like every house was in various stages of repair due to the cold weather. The second to the last house was -50 below inside. I know that because there was an outdoor thermometer on the counter in the kitchen. With our eyelids beginning to freeze shut as we blinked, we stopped the tour when we found the spa tub full of water and frozen solid. Ice bath anyone?

A stop by Fred Meyers and a quick trip to Barnes and Noble and I was ready to call it a day... Tomorrow, I'm not leaving the house... except, maybe to feed the birds in our backyard. Gotta keep those little fellows well fed. Hope you all are staying warm!

It looks as though we're in for yet MORE lovely cold weather. My meterologist client mentioned in an email earlier that we're very likely to see -60 again in the Interior. As if that's not enough, he says, and I quote "Note that I do see an end to the cold pattern ... models are showing a shift, but it is still going to take at least 8-10 days for the shift to happen." Eight to ten more days? This is starting to feel like the winters of 20 years ago.

Old man winter is beginning to cause serious havock with Interior Alaska residences. Water lines and septic systems are freezing, furnaces and boilers are dying and there have been more plumbing freeze-ups than the plumbing community can keep up with even with extra staff.

I read an article tonight that referenced the coldest places on earth. Imagine my surprise (not) to find that 11 of the 20 coldest places on earth are in Alaska.

Until the weather lifts we're going to do what everyone else is doing... staying inside. Oh, wait... I do have showings tomorrow. The good news is that buyers looking at homes when the temps are hitting 50 below zero MUST be serious. Stay warm, folks. It ain't over yet!

Well, we're in day three of a projected ten day cold snap. Lovely. It seems every time I tune into the National Weather Service they are predicting colder temperatures. For new Alaskans this stuff is starting to lose it's charm. The first day it's like "Wow, this is cool" but by day three most cheechakos are starting to think their plan of living in the Last Frontier might not have been such a hot idea, pardon the pun.

A client with a background in meteorology sent me the following note in an email yesterday...

ANOTHER WEAK LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM IS EXPECTED TO RETROGRADE OUT OF THE HIGH CANADIAN ARCTIC AND INTO NORTHWESTERN ALASKA EARLY THIS WEEKEND....PLUNGING TEMPERATURES EVEN FURTHER IN CLEAR AREAS OF THE CENTRAL AND EASTERN INTERIOR... VALLEY TEMPERATURES COULD DROP BELOW 65 BELOW IN SOME CLEAR SPOTS THIS WEEKEND.

This isn't my first time around the arctic rodeo. I've stood on the Yukon River, hundreds of miles from the nearest human, and watched the wind howl like the devil himself at -80. While I do like to joke about the dropping temps, this weather is certainly no joking matter. This morning it was -48 in Fairbanks and North Pole and apparently it's only going to get colder. This is life threatening cold, folks.

Think of it this way... at -45, the air outside is 143.6 degrees colder than your core body temperature.

My best advice? Stay home and don't venture out unless you absolutely have to. If you do have to go out, make sure to wear your best winter gear... keep every body part your fond of covered (children need extra protection in this weather)... make sure your cell phone is charged and with you... keep your fuel tanks full... and if you have pets, make them wear their little booties and a sweater when they go outside (yes, I know they will probably hate it).

This is the view that greeted me at about Noon yesterday. The sun was trying to come up but just wasn't there yet.

This is at about 12:45 and unfortunately this is about as high as it gets in Alaska in the winter. Two hours later it was gone.

This is ice fog... you would never know from this picture that the tallest building in Fairbanks, Alaska is just behind the building to the left. Amazing, isn't it?

Oops... It's already here...

The National Weather Service is predicting record breaking temps for Fairbanks and the Tanana Valley for the next week to ten days. We woke up to find the thermometer reading -46 this morning and it's likely to hit -50 to -55 tonight.

In another lifetime I spent a great deal of time at our lodge on the Yukon River some 400 miles as the crow flies from Fairbanks. It was routine to see winter temps drop to -60 to -80 and stay there for weeks at a time. Throw in a little wind and the temps dipped to well below -100 below. Not exactly the weather you want to spend a lot of time out in.

Dress warm, keep your winter gear handy (in your car), keep your fuel tanks filled up (house and car), keep your cell phone charged and with you and don't venture out unless you have to. Any body parts you're fond of should be kept covered... at these temps it does not take long for frostbite to occur.

Click to enlarge photos

While that might look like a sunset, it's really a sunrise... at 11:45AM. At this time of year the sun doesn't get very high on the horizon. This is pretty much what daylight in Alaska looks like in December.

This lovely stuff is ice fog and it can be a bear. There are days when it's so thick you can barely see beyond the hood of your car... and yet some fool will still think it's a good idea to pass you doing 65 on the highway.

This was taken in beautiful, scenic downtown North Pole, Alaska. We're supposed to see these temps hang around for a week to ten days. Highs of -35 to -45 and lows of -45 to -60 or colder. Brrrrr, -60? Now, that's cold.

The above photos were shot today, Sunday, December 28, 2008 beginning at about 11:45 with the last shot taken at the North Pole Mt. McKinley Bank branch around 3:30. Notice the darkness? Yep, it's winter in Fairbanks. It may seem brutal, and frankly -60 is no piece of cake, but the glorious summers more than make up for it. We happily suffer through a few months of darkness for a summer of warm, dry temps and 24 hour sunlight.