October is American Archives Month:
1920’s travel along the narrow gauge rail of what was originally the Tanana Valley Railroad. By 1920, the TVRR had been bought out and this section renamed the Chatanika Branch. In 1923 it all became part of the Alaska Railroad.
… this is an even better view of the Aurora than I have in Fairbanks.
The first snowfall of the season welcomed Interior residents on Friday morning, and snow continued to fall throughout the day. Fairbanks received roughly 2.5″, while areas around us received quite a bit more.
I believe we have hit peak autumn colors in the Fairbanks area this past weekend.
It’s tire changeover time in the northern half of Alaska. Studded tires can now be put on the vehicles, as of September 16th. Remember, if you procrastinate, the lines at the tire shop only get longer.
Think it’s too early to put on the set of Blizzaks?
This is an image from Hatcher Pass on Thursday, which is in the southern half of the state, and must remain stud-free until October 1.
I found this map fascinating. There is almost a month differential across the Fairbanks Borough on the date of the first freeze this fall. I was in the August 18 Camp, which my zucchini never really recovered from.
Many of the recording areas with “After Sept 14”, will fall today, the 15th, as we are expected to drop into the Blue Zone by morning. My place was at 23F on Tuesday morning.
Officially, the Fairbanks Airport is on a decent streak of 135 days above freezing. Which is the fourth longest since recording began. 144 days is the record, which happened in 1974.
There was a 4.9 magnitude earthquake just east of Fairbanks on Monday night, just before 10pm. The cabin went through a decent shake.
Wildfires within Alaska burned less than half the usual acreage in 2020, which is not really a surprise with an unusually wet summer.
Fairbanks had its 12th warmest and 20th wettest summer in the past 90 years.
Anchorage saw its 23rd warmest and 28th wettest in the past 70 years.
Juneau had its 10th warmest and 15th wettest in the past 81 years.
The western coast of Alaska was just plain wet.
Bristol Bay had some very rough seas during the fishing season, but that didn’t keep them from setting a record year for sockeye salmon.
The Yukon River drainage had no salmon in 2020. No chums. No kings. Nada. The entire fishery was closed.
One bright spot was the amount of sea ice in the Chukchi Sea in August. It was the most we have seen in 15 years.
Denali National Park has already seen 6″ of the white stuff.
Fairbanks has already seen frost.
One of my favorite summer neighbors is the sandhill crane, and that often surprises people. Like the sight of the aurora on a cold, winter night, the sound of a sandhill crane bugling will stop me in my tracks and I immediately scan the sky.
There are still a few sandhills hanging on around Fairbanks, but many have started their flight south to winter in warmer climates. I’ll miss their calls, but I’ll try to make do with the many nights of northern lights dancing across the sky.
Friday morning at the Eielson Visitor Center, Denali National Park. Elevation: 3300′.
In another weather note: As of Friday evening, Fairbanks has seen 175% of normal rainfall for the entire month of August. That puts us at the 8th wettest August since 1930, although both 2018 and 2019 had more rainfall at this point than this August.
