Fifty below zero in Fairbanks? (Lakes, North Pole: military, law, air quality)

[The Grill God]

I have to park about 60 yards away from the office and by the time I made it to the office anything that wasn't covered actually hurt. I'm not looking forward to doing it again. The coldest I've been in up here was two years ago. I went out to a unit to check on it at -90 windchill. It took about a minute to get to the cab of the unit and with arctic gear on you were shivering. People weren't meant for this kind of weather.

[starlite9]

Originally Posted by FOAD

Siberia is brutal. Perhaps it is due to the length of the Russian steppe/tundra, and the jet stream patterns in that region. We suffer in the Dakotas due to the jetstream patterns. If Alaska didn't have so many mountains it would be much colder, as polar air would frequently settle over the state.

I always thought it was brutal because of the politics and Gulogs....

[Floyd_Davidson]

Originally Posted by FOAD

Siberia is brutal. Perhaps it is due to the length of the Russian steppe/tundra, and the jet stream patterns in that region. We suffer in the Dakotas due to the jetstream patterns. If Alaska didn't have so many mountains it would be much colder, as polar air would frequently settle over the state.

The Interior, where extreme cold temperatures are experienced, is cold because of the mountains! With the Alaska range to the south and the Brooks range to the north the valley between is stagnant. The only way that cold air can be moved out is from a low pressure system moving up from the Pacific Ocean into the Bering Sea and then moving inland some 300-600 miles! (Whether it does that or not depends on the hi/lo pressure systems in Siberia.)

When a high pressure system settles over the interior, the cold air slowly settles to the lower altitudes, and ground temperatures drop. Typically the lower areas, such as along river beds, are the coldest while hilltops and plateaus are warmer (commonly by 30 to 40 degrees!).

All of that has some very far reaching significance though, and is very closely monitored by meteorologists in the Lower-48. The high and low pressure areas in Alaska are influenced greatly by the jet stream that exchanges air here with air from an area south of Hawaii. When it blows warm air into Alaska it is called El Nino. That air pushes the cold air from Siberia that would normally move into Alaska up to a higher latitude, and it doesn't move south until it is over Canada and the Lower-48.

The effect is that if it is warm in Fairbanks Alaska in January, you can bet that somewhere in the Lower-48 they are getting one heck of a dose of "winter". Typically the TV weather programs will have people from Minnisota or Wisconsin bragging about the fact that it's colder there than it is in Alaska. They don't know half the truth!

[RayinAK]

It's colder still, and more to come. -50 or so around the Safeway parking lot in North Pole. There was a lady there with a flat tire on her car. Another fellow and I replaced the tire, and she was very thankful. It seems that other people stopped by, but didn't want to help her because it's so cold out. The fellow who stopped to help (before I did) didn't have gloves. He told her that he needed to buy a pair of gloves, so he went to the store and came back to help. By then the car was up on a jack, and he asked me to let him finish the job. Quite a nice and courteous guy, I must say.

Anyway, the thermometer at the bank stopped displaying the temperature at -50, but the one at Forbes Storage is still going. The other two photos are near the Post Office, and taken around 12:00 noon. While it's around -50 in this area, temperatures around -60 are being recorded near the lakes in North Pole.

[NatureCoastFL]

Originally Posted by RayinAK

It's colder still, and more to come. -50 or so around the Safeway parking lot in North Pole. There was a lady there with a flat tire on her car. Another fellow and I replaced the tire, and she was very thankful. It seems that other people stopped by, but didn't want to help her because it's so cold out. The fellow who stopped to help (before I did) didn't have gloves. He told her that he needed to buy a pair of gloves, so he went to the store and came back to help. By then the car was up on a jack, and he asked me to let him finish the job. Quite a nice and courteous guy, I must say.

Anyway, the thermometer at the bank stopped displaying the temperature at -50, but the one at Forbes Storage is still going. The other two photos are near the Post Office, and taken around 12:00 noon. While it's around -50 in this area, temperatures around -60 are being recorded near the lakes in North Pole.

Nice pics, keep em coming if possible.
Thanks again.

[aurorawatcher]

Nice Shots Ray! That ice fog is something else

[Bruce 01]

Originally Posted by Floyd_Davidson

The Interior, where extreme cold temperatures are experienced, is cold because of the mountains! With the Alaska range to the south and the Brooks range to the north the valley between is stagnant. The only way that cold air can be moved out is from a low pressure system moving up from the Pacific Ocean into the Bering Sea and then moving inland some 300-600 miles! (Whether it does that or not depends on the hi/lo pressure systems in Siberia.)

When a high pressure system settles over the interior, the cold air slowly settles to the lower altitudes, and ground temperatures drop. Typically the lower areas, such as along river beds, are the coldest while hilltops and plateaus are warmer (commonly by 30 to 40 degrees!).

All of that has some very far reaching significance though, and is very closely monitored by meteorologists in the Lower-48. The high and low pressure areas in Alaska are influenced greatly by the jet stream that exchanges air here with air from an area south of Hawaii. When it blows warm air into Alaska it is called El Nino. That air pushes the cold air from Siberia that would normally move into Alaska up to a higher latitude, and it doesn't move south until it is over Canada and the Lower-48.

The effect is that if it is warm in Fairbanks Alaska in January, you can bet that somewhere in the Lower-48 they are getting one heck of a dose of "winter". Typically the TV weather programs will have people from Minnisota or Wisconsin bragging about the fact that it's colder there than it is in Alaska. They don't know half the truth!

From what I recall, you have it down pat.

Temperatures, aside from the current weather system, are determined by latitude, altitude, proximity to large bodies of water, and the terrain itself.

In the lower 48, the midwest is colder than the coasts because the coasts are tempered by the oceans -- which stay warmer than land.

This is also part of the reason why Siberia is so cold, because it is in the largest land mass (Asia) that there is. And similar to Alaska, as you describe, it also has mountain ranges in which the cold air, being heavy, drains down to the lowest parts instead of dispersing. From what I gather, the weather in Siberia is very stable -- clear and cold nearly all the time in the winter. I don't think they get all that much snow. It is the coldest place on earth with a native population.

[Bruce 01]

As happens quite often, daily extremes are updated as newer information comes in, sometimes several days later. Here is USA Today's page, updated since yesterday with lower temps for AK:


LINK

[megensmom]

Today on the Newsminers website they have a pic. with some local police officers and a sign showing -62.
newsminer.com • Fairbanks, Alaska

[fairbanks101]

Originally Posted by megensmom

Today on the Newsminers website they have a pic. with some local police officers and a sign showing -62.
newsminer.com • Fairbanks, Alaska

if u click the picture they said it was "cheating" because it was actually -45

no idea why the sign said -62, i will never trust temps on a flashing billboard