Tag Archives: cold
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.
Balto in snowy Central Park
The Iditarod has its ceremonial start in Anchorage tomorrow, followed by the official start in Willow on Sunday. The Last Great Race commemorates the Nome Serum Run of 1925.
An explosion
The storm that took over the Alaskan skies last night was pretty impressive. The entire sky lit up to the point that the snow on the ground glowed green.
I heard that last night’s magnetic storm was rated a Kp7. The Kp index rates the magnitude of a geomagnetic disturbance. A 0, 1 or 2 is considered “Quiet”. A Kp3 is “Unsettled”. Kp4 = “Active”. Kp5 is a “Minor Storm” G1. Kp6 is a “Moderate Storm” G2, while last night’s Kp7 is considered a “Strong Storm” G3. Kp8 and Kp9 top the index as “Severe Storm” G4 and “Extreme Storm” G5, respectively.
There are some really incredible images out there online from last night’s Strong Storm. The two here are only cell phone images, and they do not do the aurora justice. It was really a phenomenal show. As you can see, we were not limited to just the green northern lights, but quite a bit of red was visible to the naked eye.
The skies were crystal clear, as expected, with temps dipping down to -32F at the cabin. I can’t wait to see if we get a second round tonight.
Happy Aurora Chasing.
Look up!
A magnetic storm is headed our way from the sun, which should offer great aurora viewing Sunday and Monday. Hopefully the clear skies hang around tonight. With a forecast of -20F, I am assuming we will have the all clear for the aurora.
Graphic credit: UAF Geophysical Institute
Electric Delivery
We often see test vehicles roaming our roads in the winter, although these stood out more than most. The first time I saw them, there was an entire convoy in line, but since then it’s been mostly in small groups.
Amazon is in Fairbanks testing their new EV delivery vans. This is probably not the winter to give an EV a thorough cold weather test, as it has been one of the milder winters I have experienced. Still, Amazon is having a go at it, and it should be a good test for how they handle on icy roads.
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