Went through some firewood this week.
1910 Fairbanks
Tag Archives: Fairbanks
2 Seconds
Today Fairbanks will see 2 seconds more daylight than yesterday.
From 3 hours and 40 minutes to 3 hours, 40 minutes and 2 seconds.
That’s it.
That’s the post.
Chilly Chicken
A deep freeze swept over much of Interior Alaska this week. Not only was Chicken the cold spot in the state with a low of -57F, their high ended up being only -50F. They hold the spot as the first location in Alaska to officially see a high of minus fifty or colder this season.
By comparison, the thermometer outside the cabin read a balmy -33F Monday morning.
The Yukon Quest 2023
Major changes have come to the Yukon Quest Sled Dog Race. The international race could not survive the Covid pandemic, with Alaska and Canada going their separate ways. Sad news to be sure, since the big appeal to the 1000 mile race was the international aspect of it.
Alaska officials are hoping there is still some interest in an All-Alaskan race, even with it being shortened to 550 miles. Time will tell, but only 13 mushers have signed up to run the 2023 race, to date.
The race will start on the Chena River in Fairbanks, and follow the traditional route to Eagle, Alaska, but after descending American Summit, instead of going on to Dawson, the route will turn south to Chicken and the finish line at Tok, Alaska.
The Yukon Quest 550, as well as a 300 mile race and an 80 mile “fun run”, will all start the morning of February 4th.
Fairbanks Weather Almanac
Fairbanks had 5″ of snow in October, which is trending downward for the month. Between 1981 and 2010, October saw an average of more than 10″. Fairbanks has not seen an October with significantly above average snowfall in 18 years. Not that I’m complaining about that statistic. I’m in the “delay the snowfall for as long as possible” camp.
Sunday morning saw our first below zero temp of the season. It was -10F at the cabin. That is two days later than the average first dip into the negatives.
The Tanana River is at flood stage near Fairbanks due to an ice dam. We often think of ice dams causing trouble at break up, but they can cause havoc in the autumn too.
The length of day on Halloween in Fairbanks was 7 hours and 58 minutes. All Saints Day will be 6 minutes and 45 seconds shorter.
The record low on Halloween is -30F. The record high for the day is 46F. The average is +5 and +20 respectively. 2022 was slightly cooler than average.
Graphics credit: ACCAP/@AlaskaWX and NOAA
Bright Lights
Weather permitting, we are looking at some phenomenal aurora viewing over the next few nights. Halloween weekend also looks to be quite good for viewing.
Checking the trail cams
At this point, with about 20 different images on two cameras over a three month period, I think the jay is just messing with me.
First Snow
Sunday brought the first snowfall to the Fairbanks area. That is slightly more than two weeks later than average, and the 6th latest first snowfall in the past 119 years of record keeping. That said, there is no long term trend with the statistic.
The snow falls when it wants to.
Beaver Patrol
Not one…
Not two…
But three…
Beavers patrolling The Pond. The birch, aspen and cottonwoods are all targets.
There has not been any action from the beavers since early spring. Once we made it into late September, and had the first hard freeze, they shifted into that busy beaver mode. It’s been nonstop action, day and night, collecting their favorite trees for the pantry, ever since. They already have a decent pile of semi-submerged tree limbs in front of their lodge.
They are a fascinating rodent, but if you want to save a nice birch from their teeth, you need to be proactive. My “yard” has a fence around it, but they still manage to break through from time to time. The neighbor though, offers them an easy smorgasbord, so for the most part, they seem to take the path of least resistance. In one night, three beavers dropped a dozen trees and waddled off with roughly half of their lumber in that raid. The next night, they came back for the other half, logs and all.
This will continue until The Pond finally freezes over. It’s a rough six weeks of the year for a birch.
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