Dry cold, wet cold? no.
Winter cold and summer cold? no. Bitterly cold vs extremely cold? no. Calm vs windy cold? close.
All these would make good blog subjects, but what I’m thinking about today is domestic cold vs imported cold. Seriously.
I have a good recent example. (more…)
The question in the title came to me in an email, but for every email I get there are probably hundreds asking the same question in Glennallen. Sure, there are thousands more asking it about where they live, be it Fairbanks or Juneau or Orlando for that matter. But I want to look at what appears to be a unusually cold spot this winter, the capital of the Copper River Valley, population, after throwing in close neighbors Gulkana, Gakona, Copper Center, etc, of a 1,100 or so very tough Alaskans.
Let’s look at the weather depiction map from yesterday Morning, courtesy of the Alaska Aviation Weather Unit. A great example, as Gulkana (that’s where the weather station is located), labeled with its 4 letter code PAGK, was the colder than any station except Northway (PAOR)! It was 40 below (Fahrenheit or Celsius, take your pick), colder than Fairbanks at the time and most of the rest of those off the map to the north. Those around it are way warmer, with only Eureka (PAZK) being in the same ballpark. Talkeetna (PATK) and Anchorage (PANC) are not even below zero! Are not all these places in the Southcentral zone?
The cold, cloudy, wet weather has been with Alaskans since May, with a only a few short breaks here and there. Here’s a recent example from the usually warmish Copper River Basin: A rainy day Wednesday in Glennallen (wx data from close-by Gulkana–that’s where the airport and weather station are for the Glennallen area) with a high of only 48F (9C), then some clearing overnight allowing the temperature to drop to 29F (-2C), the coldest spot in the state Thursday morning. That’s right, below freezing in late June. And it’s the 6th day in a row that the cold spot of the state has been at or below zero Celsius. (more…)
If you have been waiting to see some statistics on how our winter of 2011-2012 rated compared to climate history, or if you were hoping for a long range forecast (educated guess) for the summer of 2012, stay tuned, I am working on both. I’ve been preoccupied with getting the 2013 Alaska Weather Calendar printed and out to stores. That rush is easing and I hope to increase the blogging frequency at least to where it was before. If you would like an automatic email when a new article is posted, sign up for that service under “Subscribe to Posts” either on the menu items across the top of the page or on the right hand sidebar items.
Of course, I can’t really do a winter wrap-up or declare a winner in the Iditasnow until winter is a little more over, can I? Look at what has been happening around the state:
In the Arctic, no one expects anything like spring weather for some time to come. In fact, the weather there has been pretty average for this time of year: Temperatures in the 20s F (around -5C) with some wind, a little snow and blowing snow lately. However, just a few days ago it was below zero on the North Slope and Bering Strait area. After a very snowy winter in Kotzebue, the 27 inches (69 cm) of snow on the ground is holding steady with well below freezing temperatures.
The plows are still needed in Shishmaref. Click on the image to see it full size.
