Sunday morning was the first day of the season for it to drop below zero at the cabin.
Thursday morning we saw our first -20F.
Tag Archives: cold
20F Degrees
Well, Fairbanks did not get through September without a hard frost. The thermometer read a very solid 20F in the Goldstream Valley.
Late afternoon I visited the bus to drain the water tank, and the frost was still on the ground.
Winter is around the corner.
Walter Harper Day
Today is Walter Harper Day in Alaska. Harper was the first known individual to summit Denali on this day in 1913.
Climbing Season
The first successful summit party of 2024 returned to the lowlands this past week.
Currently there are 261 climbers on The Mountain, with 952 having registered to attempt Denali this summer.
There is no “best” time to climb Denali, although May – June are the most popular. One never knows what the weather will be on Denali. Winter ascents are attempted, but are rare.
There are several possible routes, but 90% of climbers choose the West Buttress Route. It is common to spend 17-18 days on a summit trip, depending on experience, weather and group size.
Most climb in groups of 5-6. No groups larger than 12 are allowed.
The Muldrow Glacier Route was the northern counterpart to West Buttress and was considered the less technical route, but that changed with the Muldrow Glacier surge in 2021. Currently the glacier appears impassable from the air.
Photos credit: Denali National Park and Preserve
A bit of a chilly start
The revamped Yukon Quest race had its start on Saturday morning. It was a balmy -45F at the first mush.
Officially, Fairbanks dropped to -50F that morning. It was our first “official” -50 since 2017. It was the third morning at the cabin during this cold snap, that I saw -50 on my thermometer. For some reason, my cabin is not considered the official weather station for Fairbanks. For purely political reasons, that honor lies with the Fairbanks International Airport.
Speaking of streaks broken: I broke my previous record for distance traveled with “thumpity-thumpity-thumpity” coming from my tires. For those left out in the heat, tires make that sound after a flat spot forms where they met the driveway during extreme cold temps. It usually only takes a few hundred yards for the tires to warm up enough to reform, but in fifty below, the flat spot lingers for a mile or so.
First Sign of Gaining Daylight
Friday, January 19th, was the first day since autumn, that I noticed light still in the sky when I drove home. It wasn’t much, and it didn’t last long, but it was there! Granted, I actually left work on time, but I’m counting the sighting as a moral win.
Our current length of day is 5 hrs, 40 mins, with length of visible light at 7 hrs, 53 mins.
That’s the good news.
As I type this, it it -28F outside, with a low tonight of -38F. The high on Monday is alleged to be -30F. Luckily, the temperature on Monday night should only drop down to -34F.
You may now go back to griping about your weather in the Lower 48.
May Day
There is a lot of snow on the ground still. Anywhere from 12-18″ of depth, but the 50F degrees this past weekend has put the melt on. Lots of sun right now too:
Length of day: 16 hrs, 53 mins
Length of visible light: 19 hrs, 17 mins
Today will be 6 mins and 59 secs longer than yesterday.
The beavers have open water in front of their lodge, which happens for two reasons. Their swimming back and forth helps to keep the ice thinner, but there is also a methane release point in the same location, which helps to do the same thing. In fact, the circles of diminished ice in the background, are also methane pockets.
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