-40 Barrow Ak (Kipnuk: house, dangerous, post office)

[Floyd_Davidson]

Originally Posted by Dude111

I reckon after living in Barrow for a year or more,ANYTHING WOULD FEEL GOOD Eh Floyd?

No sir! Other places can be downright uncomfortable to people from here!

I'll relate a story that a friend of mine tells. It happened about 30 years ago when he was a lot younger. Seems he and another young fellow from here in Barrow were visiting San Diego, so they decided to take off one afternoon and visit Tijuana. All was fine as it was winter so the evenings were something like 60 degrees, it made for a good time for a couple of Barrowites to be out and about.

Then they tried to re-enter the US.

The US Border Patrol decided to take their car apart. They searched them too, and kept them separated. When they got done... they started over and did the entire procedure again. When they got done with that, one of the officers began giving my friend the third degree. He told him he might as well confess, because they were positive. He didn't say what he was positive of though! They searched everything again. They again told him to fess up.

He says he started to insist that they tell him what this was all about, because he wasn't hiding anything and had no idea why they thought he was.

They finally told him that they were positive that something was going on because of the way they acted and looked! Here is was, a chilly 60 degrees, and these two guys were wearing shorts and tee shirts... and sweating!

He said he just about died laughing at them. He asked them if they had any idea what kind of a name that other guy had? Then he explained the other guy is a f**king Eskimo, and they both live in Barrow Alaska. As in, look at the stupid drivers licenses! They don't see heat waves as warm as 60 degrees except on a few days of the year, and think it is just horribly hot.

After a bit of head bashing and making a few calls to confirm things like the existence of Inupiat Eskimos in Barrow Alaska, they let them go.

[4theluvofgold]

I had a similar situation myself. It was steady -30's with dips lower a day here or there lowest was -47 when I was in Nuiqsut. I finally was ready to go and flew to Oregon to visit family. I got down there and it was 48 degrees. I was roasting. I even had the AC on.

I was passed by another driver driving the same exact car as I was. I was doing 65 he was doing much more. Well I got pulled over.

The officer looked at me like I was crazy and asked me to step out. Asked me if I had any drugs on my person. I told him no. He asked why do you have the AC on then? I told him that it was 48!
He asked for a breathalyser. I concurred cause denial is automatic guilty... stupid really. Big fat ZERO.

I told him where I worked. He didn't believe me saying "How could you get here from work that fast?"

I told him "It is called Flying" He didn't like that much.

Finally he ran my stuff. Had nothing. HE swore I had to be doing meth. So he had a dog come sniff the car took 2 hours to wait.

The officer with the K9 unit asked why he had to come. The first officer said that I was sweating and had the AC on. The K9 officer asked me what I do for a living. I told him I worked 12 weeks on the north slope.
He then asked me about security jobs up there cause he was considering retiring to Alaska and wanted to make money but enjoy more time for travel.

The first officer had zero clue what was going on. Then the K9 officer told him about how it gets so cold up there it feels warm when you first get back to regular temperatures. It was 88 degrees warmer! So if we had Zero degrees it would feel like 88 to us. He's been in -40's.

The other officer said the funniest thing ever! The K9 unit and I laughed so hard it hurt. How is Alaska so cold south of Arizona?

Whew... guess he looked at the maps wrong.

[ShipOfFools42]

Originally Posted by 4theluvofgold

The other officer said the funniest thing ever! The K9 unit and I laughed so hard it hurt. How is Alaska so cold south of Arizona?

That is unbelievable. People that stupid are allowed to be police officers in this country? Seriously, unbelievable.

I sure do wish it was -40F here today. It's 40 damn degrees and sunny!

[gobrien]

I knew a lady from Germany who thought Alaska was an island next to Hawaii because of how maps always show it-but she is excused since she is from another country. No excuse for the police officer. Some people think New Mexico is a foreign country.

[Milleka]

My brother is in Fairbanks and sent us a picture of his frozen beard the other day. Yikes.

[writerwife]

-71 with windchill in Barrow now. brrrrrr. (To those of us NOT acclimated)

[ADGreen]

I just stumbled across this thread. Amazing to think what -40F would be like...

Here in Sydney (Australia) it amazes me in the middle of winter (mid July) people start to complain if we do not get to 60F during the day. Actually it is quite rare here to get maximums below 55F that at any time of the year!

(note that we hit around 97F yesterday...)

[Wynternight]

Originally Posted by writerwife

-71 with windchill in Barrow now. brrrrrr. (To those of us NOT acclimated)

I went to the AC in a t shirt, sweats, and flannel jacket. I'm thinking I'm kind of acclimated.

Mind you I would not be inclined to stand outside for long so attired but for the walk across the parking lot and the short wait for a cab it was fine.

[MattClyde]

meh that ain't bad. If you want to talk about some real bad weather, today in Los Angeles it was 72 :O Now that was a horror

[Wynternight]

Originally Posted by MattClyde

meh that ain't bad. If you want to talk about some real bad weather, today in Los Angeles it was 72 :O Now that was a horror

**screams**