Alaska Weather (Anchorage, Kenai, Valdez: buy, direct, Sunday)

[warptman]

Bethel, Alaska (Airport)
Light Freezing Rain
27 °F
Light Freezing Rain Mist
Windchill: 12 °F
Humidity: 93%
Dew Point: 25 °F
Wind: 22 mph from the South
Wind Gust: 33 mph
Pressure: 30.01 in (Falling)
Visibility: 2.0 miles
Clouds:
Overcast 300 ft
(Above Ground Level)

[bkyhi]

Barrow, Alaska (Airport)
Updated: 43 min 48 sec ago
Temp: -6 °F
Blowing Snow
Windchill:-31 °F
Humidity:84%
Dew Point:-9 °F
Wind:23 mph from the ESE
Wind Gust:34 mph
Pressure:29.85 in (Falling)
Visibility:1.5 miles UV:0 out of 16
Clouds:Clear -
(Above Ground Level)
Snow Depth:8.0 in

Clear if you can see up through the blowing snow.
The drive out to NARL was quite something this evening. The winds have blown hugh drifts across the road. A couple of times I actually stopped, got out and checked it out very carefully before making the decision to plow through. Backed up a bit, let the tires get a grip, got up some speed then plowed through. This is probably at the limit of the truck. Any more and I would be stuck out on the road at this minute. There isn't much traffic out near NARL when it's like this. So that would have been a very bad thing. I probably will need to wait for them to clear the road before I can get back into town again tomorrow. Though I have a shovel in the back and could probably dig through the drifts before attempting to go forward if necessary.

4WD is a must at times like these. You don't need to go off-road when the road itself is off...

It's going to be a fun winter....

[tigre79]

Nine degrees and blowing 15-25mph. Feels colder than it did in Fairbanks at -30.

[warptman]

Wind Chill Advisory

Statement as of 4:02 PM AKST on December 24, 2010

... Wind Chill Advisory in effect from midnight tonight to 4 PM
akst Monday...

The National Weather Service in Anchorage has issued a Wind Chill
Advisory... which is in effect from midnight tonight to 4 PM akst
Monday.

An Arctic airmass over central Alaska will continue to filter down
into the Kuskokwim Delta through the weekend with cold
temperatures and brisk winds. Temperatures of 10 to 20 below zero
coupled with north winds of 15 to 25 mph look to produce wind
chills of 30 to 45 below zero. Winds will weaken on Monday
helping to bring an end to the dangerous wind chills.

Precautionary/preparedness actions...

A Wind Chill Advisory means that very cold air and strong winds
will combine to generate low wind chills. This will result in
frostbite and lead to hypothermia if precautions are not taken.

[Sue Basey]

What is the weather in TOK?
I am driving from Anchorage to TOK and then on to Haines to catch the Ferry on January 15, 16 & 17th 2011. IDAEAS????

[Floyd_Davidson]

Originally Posted by Sue Basey

What is the weather in TOK?
I am driving from Anchorage to TOK and then on to Haines to catch the Ferry on January 15, 16 & 17th 2011. IDAEAS????

Well, it makes little difference what the weather in Tok is today, because there could be more than a 100 degree range of temperatures possible in two to three weeks.

You can access the long range (one week) forecast for the upper Tanana Valley at

7-Day Zone Forecast for Upper Tanana Valley and the Fortymile Country

And while Tok Junction doesn't actually have a Automatic Weather Observation Site, nearby Northway does. You can get recent history of weather at that location from

National Weather Service : Observed Weather for past 3 Days : Northway Airport

And you can get the current weather with a 24 hour history at

http://weather.noaa.gov/weather/current/PAOR.html

Note that this last one, along with the forecast, is the basic information that virtually all weather sites on the web reporting weather get their data from.

The Northway AWOS can also be contacted for a voice message reporting weather at 907-778-2282.

All of this is important because while the current reported weather in Northway is 3 mph SE wind with 2-1/2 miles visibility at -9F degrees and light snow with a mist, there is no reason to believe that it might not be -65F degrees on January 17th. The current prediction says lows from -20F to -40F in the next 2-3 days.

Not to worry, it rarely stays at -65F for more than a few days... :-) However, it might stay at -40 for many days!

[warptman]

Bethel, Alaska (Airport)
Blowing Snow
-8 °F / -22 °C
Blowing Snow
Windchill: -34 °F / -37 °C
Humidity: 79%
Dew Point: -13 °F / -25 °C
Wind: 24 mph / 39 km/h / 10.8 m/s from the NNE
Pressure: 29.66 in / 1004 hPa (Rising)
Visibility: 6.0 miles / 9.7 kilometers
UV: 0 out of 16
Clouds:
Overcast 8000 ft / 2438 m
(Above Ground Level)

[heathen]

Originally Posted by Sue Basey

What is the weather in TOK?
I am driving from Anchorage to TOK and then on to Haines to catch the Ferry on January 15, 16 & 17th 2011. IDAEAS????

I'm about 100 miles northwest in Delta. It's been consistently cold but not extreme in the interior since the ice storm last month (meaning it hasn't been above zero or consistently below -40). They're forecasting a warmer pattern shift starting in a couple days though (0 -25 above) with a better likelyhood for light snow. They're hardly ever right about the specifics, but usually have a clue about major shifts. Stay tuned.

[warptman]

Bethel, Alaska (Airport)
Scattered Clouds
-15 °F / -26 °C
Scattered Clouds
Windchill: -38 °F / -39 °C
Humidity: 75%
Dew Point: -21 °F / -29 °C
Wind: 14 mph / 22 km/h / 6.2 m/s from the NNE
Pressure: 29.70 in / 1006 hPa (Falling)
Visibility: 10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers
Clouds:
Scattered Clouds 6000 ft / 1828 m
Scattered Clouds 18000 ft / 5486 m
(Above Ground Level)

[Moose Whisperer]

Wind Chill Warning for Central Beaufort Sea Coast, AK
until 6 am AKST, Wed., Dec. 29, 2010

Issued by The National Weather Service
Fairbanks, AK
1:23 pm AKST, Tue., Dec. 28, 2010

... WIND CHILL WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 AM AKST WEDNESDAY...

A WIND CHILL WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 AM AKST WEDNESDAY.

A SOUTHWEST WIND AROUND 15 MPH WILL COMBINE WITH TEMPERATURES OF 40 TO 50 BELOW TO PRODUCE WIND CHILLS TO 80 BELOW THROUGH TONIGHT. TEMPERATURES WILL BEGIN TO MODERATE SLOWLY ON WEDNESDAY... BUT WIND CHILLS TO 65 BELOW ARE STILL POSSIBLE IN THE MORNING.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
A WIND CHILL WARNING MEANS THAT DANGEROUSLY LOW WIND CHILLS WITH SUSTAINED WIND SPEEDS OF 15 MPH OR MORE ARE OCCURRING OR EXPECTED. IF YOU MUST BE OUTDOORS... BE CAREFUL TO COVER EXPOSED SKIN TO PREVENT FROSTBITE.