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.
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.
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.
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.
Officially, Fairbanks hit 32F for the first time this season on Sunday morning. That means we had a string of 114 freeze-free days.
Unofficially, I have already seen a couple of 32 degree mornings at the cabin, but Sunday was the first hard freeze of the season. The temp when I finally ventured outside was 28F, but judging from the frost on leaves and windshields, I would guess it had dropped a couple of degrees cooler.
The Lower 48 remains caught up in the heat of summer, but autumn has taken hold in Alaska. The seasonal graphic that AlaskaWx puts together is a review that I always enjoy, so I’m sharing it here.
Weather-wise, Alaska was all over the map this past summer. Fairbanks had one of our driest summers on record, while Anchorage had a top three driest June, only to then see a top three wettest August.
Toolik Lake had snow in July, while Denali Park saw the white stuff accumulate in August.
The Southeast had an early heatwave, and Cold Bay saw a record early first freeze.
Overall, Alaska has seen 3.11 million acres burn to wildfire, which is the seventh largest burn season since 1950.
Department of Transportation employees were out breaking up the last mound of snow that they hauled this past winter. I think they took it personally, that last year’s snow was going to still be there when they started to haul in this coming season’s snow.
The mound above was broken up and spread out to get it to melt. No word on whether overtime pay was involved.
As we slide into the Dark Abyss that is winter, there is one phenomenon that makes up for our shortened days: The Northern Lights.
With a geomagnetic storm in progress, and a forecast of clear skies, the first aurora of the season may be visible over the cabin in the next few days.
