Alaska Weather (Anchorage, Fairbanks, Bethel: ferry, history, nearby)

[Nephler]

lol, that very well could be true.
Was out with the dogs earlier, and man, the wind blowing on my face felt so good, ya know that bit of a freeze, snow blowing and freezing on your skin, it felt so good. Love It!

[Moose Whisperer]

Yea, I do too. As long as my nose and ears don't start to turn white!

[RayinAK]

Around Fairbanks this week:

National Weather Service, Fairbanks Forecast Office, AK

...DENSE FOG ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL NOON AKST THURSDAY...
.TONIGHT...MOSTLY CLEAR. AREAS OF ICE FOG REDUCING VISIBILITY TO
NEAR ZERO AT TIMES. LOWS 40 TO 50 BELOW IN VALLEYS AND AROUND
15 BELOW IN THE HILLS. LIGHT WINDS IN THE VALLEYS. NORTH WINDS TO
10 MPH IN THE HILLS.
.THURSDAY...MOSTLY CLEAR. AREAS OF ICE FOG REDUCING VISIBILITY TO
NEAR ZERO AT TIMES IN THE MORNING. HIGHS 35 TO 45 BELOW IN VALLEYS
AND AROUND 10 BELOW IN THE HILLS. LIGHT WINDS IN THE VALLEYS.
NORTH WINDS TO 10 MPH IN THE HILLS.
.THURSDAY NIGHT...MOSTLY CLEAR. AREAS OF ICE FOG. LOWS 40 TO
50 BELOW IN VALLEYS AND AROUND 15 BELOW IN THE HILLS. LIGHT
WINDS.
.FRIDAY...MOSTLY CLEAR. AREAS OF ICE FOG. HIGHS 30 TO 45 BELOW IN
VALLEYS AND 5 TO 15 BELOW IN THE HILLS. LIGHT WINDS.

[warptman]

Public Information Statement

Statement as of 4:45 PM AKST on December 15, 2010

... Wind and damage reports from the Matanuska Valley...

Strong winds affected much of the Matanuska Valley late yesterday and
today. Damage reports received so far include a semi-trailer truck
blown off the Road near Wasilla Lake... several signs blown down or
torn off buildings in Wasilla... and scattered power outages
throughout the Valley. High winds have also been reported to have
damaged area home roofs and blown covers off airplanes at the Palmer
Airport.

Below are the highest reported wind gusts from this event as of
4:30pm today. With the winds gradually subsiding throughout the
valley tonight... these numbers will likely stand as the highest
recorded winds from the event.

Location wind gust time
-------------------------- ---------- --------
between Wasilla and Palmer 87 mph 6:00am
Palmer Airport 81 mph 10:53am
Wasilla (public report) 78 mph 12:35am
Wasilla Airport 63 mph 4:56am

[ShipOfFools42]

Ray, why is it that it is so much colder in the valleys than in the hills? Seems counter-intuitive to me. In the mountains here (and pretty much all mountains I've ever been in), the higher you go in elevation, the colder it is. Why is that different in the Interior?

[Floyd_Davidson]

Originally Posted by ShipOfFools42

Ray, why is it that it is so much colder in the valleys than in the hills? Seems counter-intuitive to me. In the mountains here (and pretty much all mountains I've ever been in), the higher you go in elevation, the colder it is. Why is that different in the Interior?

Air circulation.

Along a range of mountains there is always movement of air. Up drafts and down drafts are the usual thing.

And if there is a large body of water there will be horizontal movement due to temperature variations, where the water changes temperature much slower over a day than does the land. Land warms up during the daytime and cools off when the sun is down, to a much greater degree than water does. So there is always one sort or another of temperature gradient between the land and any large body of water.

Those effects cause what you are used to seeing. but the Interior is indeed different.

There is no large body of water within hundreds of miles. And while around Fairbanks there are a number of 2000 to 3500 foot hills (above the 400+ foot elevation of the valley floor), they are in the shade of many 10,000 foot peaks to the north and to the south where the massive Brooks and Alaska ranges block air movement entirely.

So instead of a sun warmed surface with winds that distribute the warmed air around the surface... the Interior has a "cold box" effect, where denser cold air just settles to the lowest elevation. The sun is only barely above the horizon for the 4 hours or so that it is up. There is no air movement from surface winds.

Around the Fairbanks area the first cold snap will have colder temperatures in Fairbanks (reported at the Fairbanks International Airport) than in a number of outlying areas. But by the third time it gets cold, air will start settling in, and as soon as a cold spell has lasted longer than a few days the reported temperatures in Fairbanks will be 10 or more degrees warmer than the outlying areas that are away form the hills. The airport is relatively close to Ester Dome, and gets warm air from it. In parts of North Pole and Salcha there is a significant distance to any hills, and the temperatures can be as much as 20 degrees colder than in Fairbanks. High points surrounding Fairbanks, such as Ester Dome, Murphy Dome and Pedro Dome (all of which have roads and houses built on them) never get anything near as cold as Fairbanks, never mind Salcha.

I lived in Salcha for a long time, and for awhile worked on top of Pedro Dome. It was possible on some days to leave home at -65F and arrive at work to find it was -20 or -25. It has never been -35F on top of Pedro Dome (I'm not sure, but it might never have been -30 either!)

[AADAD]

nose hairs x 2.

[Moose Whisperer]

Originally Posted by ShipOfFools42

Ray, why is it that it is so much colder in the valleys than in the hills? Seems counter-intuitive to me. In the mountains here (and pretty much all mountains I've ever been in), the higher you go in elevation, the colder it is. Why is that different in the Interior?

Yes, it does seem conter-intuitive, but there are a couple of things unique to the arctic that make this happen. First is the whole air mixing thing which Floyd described (which also occurs here in the Anchorage bowl even though we are close to water). The second reason may be a little more surprising to those down south.

It is actually true that the normal atmospheric temperature lapse rate (i.e. temps decreases as elevation increases) exerts itself at higher elevations here in Alaska, just as everywhere else. Once you get away from the cold air settling phenomena (probably somewhere at elevations above 3-4 thousand feet), air temps start decreasing again just like normal. The interesting part is: virtually no one in the entire state lives above 3000 feet or so elevation. The conditions in the mountains at these elevations in Alaska are simply too harsh, the terrain is too rugged, and the road access isn't there. Consequently, you don't really see much if any temperature data reported from these higher elevations in AK. 3-4 thousand feet elevation in Alaska is probably equivalent (climate wise) to 10-12 thousand feet in the lower 48. It's well above the tree line, and relatively little human activity takes place there year round at these elevations.

[aloft94]

For Valdez-

AKZ131-171400- NORTHEAST PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND- INCLUDING...VALDEZ...THOMPSON PASS 400 PM AKST THU DEC 16 2010 ...HIGH WIND WATCH IN EFFECT FROM FRIDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH SATURDAY AFTERNOON... .TONIGHT...MOSTLY CLEAR. LOWS AROUND 10 ABOVE EXCEPT AROUND 5 BELOW THROUGH THE PASS. NORTH TO EAST WIND 10 TO 25 MPH WTIH LOCAL GUSTS 40 MPH. NORTHEAST WIND 30 TO 45 MPH THROUGH THE PASS. .FRIDAY...SUNNY. HIGHS 15 TO 20 EXCEPT AROUND ZERO THROUGH THE PASS. NORTH TO EAST WIND INCREASING TO 35 TO 50 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 75 MPH POSSIBLE IN LATE AFTERNOON. THROUGH THE PASS...NORTHEAST WINDS 45 TO 60 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 75 MPH POSSIBLE LATE. .FRIDAY NIGHT...MOSTLY CLEAR. LOWS 5 TO 10 ABOVE EXCEPT AROUND 5 BELOW THROUGH THE PASS. NORTH TO EAST WIND 35 TO 50 MPH WITH LOCAL GUSTS TO 75 MPH POSSIBLE. THROUGH THE PASS...NORTHEAST WINDS 45 TO 60 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 75 MPH POSSIBLE. .SATURDAY...MOSTLY SUNNY. HIGHS AROUND 20 EXCEPT AROUND 5 ABOVE THROUGH THE PASS. NORTH TO EAST WIND 35 TO 50 MPH WITH LOCAL GUSTS TO 75 MPH POSSIBLE. THROUGH THE PASS...NORTHEAST WINDS 45 TO 60 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 75 MPH POSSIBLE. .SATURDAY NIGHT...CLEAR. LOWS 10 TO 15 EXCEPT AROUND 5 BELOW THROUGH THE PASS. NORTHEAST WIND 15 TO 30 MPH EXCEPT 25 TO 40 MPH THROUGH THE PASS. .SUNDAY...SUNNY. HIGHS 20 TO 25. .SUNDAY NIGHT...MOSTLY CLEAR. LOWS IN THE MID TEENS. .MONDAY...MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF SNOW SHOWERS. HIGHS 20 TO 25. .MONDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY...MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF SNOW SHOWERS. LOWS 15 TO 20. HIGHS IN THE MID 20S.

[ShipOfFools42]

Originally Posted by Moose Whisperer

virtually no one in the entire state lives above 3000 feet or so elevation. The conditions in the mountains at these elevations in Alaska are simply too harsh, the terrain is too rugged, and the road access isn't there. Consequently, you don't really see much if any temperature data reported from these higher elevations in AK. 3-4 thousand feet elevation in Alaska is probably equivalent (climate wise) to 10-12 thousand feet in the lower 48. It's well above the tree line, and relatively little human activity takes place there year round at these elevations.

Yeah, this actually doesn't surprise me. That is what I had figured; if you get above much elevation in Alaska it would just be insane conditions. Of course, at the same time, we say the conditions in the mountains at 3500' would just be too harsh, but at the same time, the temperatures are way lower. So what would be so harsh? The snow I guess? I can imagine that would be some intense snow, since living at 3000' in New Hampshire or Vermont will get you a TON of snow. I guess it would be a bit much to get eight feet of snow in 24 hours huh?

Very good information about the cold in the Interior as well.