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Last Updated: 9:11 PM GMT on May 24, 2013
— Last Comment: 9:05 AM GMT on May 26, 2013
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Bitter cold -65°F temperatures hit Alaska |
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| Posted by: JeffMasters, 5:13 PM GMT on January 30, 2012 |
If you're wondering who's getting all the cold air the lower 48 states is missing during this non-winter of 2012, the answer during the past week has been Alaska. Our 49th state is used to intense winter cold, but not like what they've experienced during the past week. Friday night and Saturday night, temperatures plummeted to -50°F and -51°F in Fairbanks, marking the first time since 1999 the city had seen back-to-back minus fifty nights. The low temperature so far today at the Fairbanks International Airport has been -44°F, giving the city sixteen days of -40°F temperatures so far this month. Since 1906, there have only been three years (1906, 1934, and 1971) with more 40 below days during the month of January. At forty below zero, the air is so cold that the water vapor condenses out into ice crystals, which float in the air creating a low-visibility fog. A large area of Alaska experienced bitter cold temperatures of -50 to -65°F Sunday morning:
FORT YUKON CO-OP..............65 BELOW KANDIK RIVER CO-OP............64 BELOW FORT YUKON AIRPORT..........62 BELOW* BETTLES.................................60 BELOW** HUSLIA.....................................60 BELOW MANLEY HOT SPRINGS............60 BELOW NORTH POLE/WOODSMOKE....60 BELOW CHICKEN CO-OP.....................59 BELOW GALENA AIRPORT....................58 BELOW TANANA...................................58 BELOW CIRCLE HOT SPRINGS..........58 BELOW DELTA 20 SE CO-OP...............58 BELOW COLDFOOT................................57 BELOW EAGLE CO-OP.........................57 BELOW KALTAG...................................56 BELOW GOLDSTREAM CREEK..........55 BELOW ARCTIC VILLAGE..................54 BELOW NENANA..................................54 BELOW SALCHA..................................54 BELOW FAIRBANKS AIRPORT..............51 BELOW DELTA JUNCTION/FT GREELY......50 BELOW LAKE MINCHUMINA.................50 BELOW MCGRATH.................................50 BELOW
*TIED DAILY RECORD LOW OF 62 BELOW SET IN 1909 **EXCEEDS DAILY RECORD LOW OF 58 BELOW SET IN 1989
The cold snap is expected to continue through mid-week, with more -65°F temperatures possible in the interior valleys north of Fairbanks. Warmer air is expected to arrive state-wide by Thursday.
 Figure 1. It's a tradition! Photo taken Sunday, January 29, 2012, by one of our more adventurous wunderphotographers. Image credit: wunderphotographer TerezkaSunshine.
All-time U.S. low temperature record threatened? The coldest temperature ever recorded in the U.S. was a -80°F (-62.2°C) reading from Prospect Creek, AK (about 180 miles north of Fairbanks) on January 23, 1971. A weather station just a few miles from Prospect Creek, the Jim River DOT site, appears to have recorded a low temperature between -78°F and -79°F Saturday morning (January 28, 2012), shortly before the weather station lost power. Keeping the power going at -70 is very tough, and it is not a surprise to see that the station lost power during this extraordinary cold snap. Power just returned this morning to the site, where the temperature was -66°F at 7 am AKST. Wunderground's weather historian Christopher C. Burt is corresponding with Alaska's state climatologist to get more information on whether the data during the power outage will be recoverable, and how reliable these near-record low temperatures might be.
Jeff Masters
54°F Below
This capture was shot just outside of North Pole , Alaska. It was a very cold and slow night for aurora hunting. One of these days I will learn to leave earlier in the evening.
SunDog
Looking due south down a side road, not too long after noon. Chilly night last night, down to -51.
Dangerous Temps
This was shot at 0345 on 29, Jan. It was painfully cold.
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Jeff co-founded the Weather Underground in 1995 while working on his Ph.D. He flew with the NOAA Hurricane Hunters from 1986-1990. |
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Copyright © 2013 Weather Underground, Inc.
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Copyright © 2013 Weather Underground, Inc.
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