For those worried that Alaska is warming

[saintmichaeldefendthem]

A major early snowstorm hit Northern Alaska. Fairbanks had 6.7″ yesterday (Fri.). That obliterated the previous daily snowfall record of 0.8″. Just north of Fairbanks, 9″ was recorded. Here’s more snowfall totals. A record low was set at Kodiak AK at 29 and small hail fell at Annette. Barrow reported 1″ of snow on the ground and Bettles had 3″. Gulkana had a low of 17. Arctic Village reported a temp. of 19 and a wind chill of +9. The high temp. of 34 in Fairbanks was 15 deg. cooler than the average high of 49 for 9/25. Alaska temperature anomaly is often the opposite of the Great Lakes. When there is a ridge over Alaska, there is often a trough over the Great Lakes and vice versa. Here’s snow in Coldfoot AK. Another wintry scene from Fairbanks.

Alaska’s a big state and all but one of the first order climate stations here is reporting colder than average temps. so far this Sept: Nome -2.6, Anchorage -2.0, Bethel -2.0, Fairbanks -1.9, Barrow -1.9, King Salmon -1.9, Kotzebue -1.7, McGrath -1.6, Annette -1.2, Yakutat -1.1, Kodiak +0.2. Look at how snow is accumulating in Alaska, the Yukon Territory and Russia.

I remember the packed ice on the roads being at least 21" all winter. You have to learn to drive all over again. Car blocks had to be plugged in when parked to keep them from freezing. NEVER touch metal with your bare hand. Sneakers and shoes were foreboden, everyone wore boots and mukluks. Bunny boots weigh a ton after trudging through snow for hours, but your feet won't be frostbit

I heard about a phenomenon reading Julie Of The Wolves where the temperature reached -50 and sound itself was effected. You could be right next to somebody talking and they would sound far away. I would be interested to know if it's true.

 

[Rexx Taylor]

whew! thank god! now we dont have to worry about those polar bears migrating here because of the alaska meltdown.

Actually if they can't find food in the wilderness they will migrate to human inhabitants

>>>> already stocking up on Purina Polar Bear Chow.

 

[EverCurious]

A major early snowstorm hit Northern Alaska. Fairbanks had 6.7″ yesterday (Fri.). That obliterated the previous daily snowfall record of 0.8″. Just north of Fairbanks, 9″ was recorded. Here’s more snowfall totals. A record low was set at Kodiak AK at 29 and small hail fell at Annette. Barrow reported 1″ of snow on the ground and Bettles had 3″. Gulkana had a low of 17. Arctic Village reported a temp. of 19 and a wind chill of +9. The high temp. of 34 in Fairbanks was 15 deg. cooler than the average high of 49 for 9/25. Alaska temperature anomaly is often the opposite of the Great Lakes. When there is a ridge over Alaska, there is often a trough over the Great Lakes and vice versa. Here’s snow in Coldfoot AK. Another wintry scene from Fairbanks.

Alaska’s a big state and all but one of the first order climate stations here is reporting colder than average temps. so far this Sept: Nome -2.6, Anchorage -2.0, Bethel -2.0, Fairbanks -1.9, Barrow -1.9, King Salmon -1.9, Kotzebue -1.7, McGrath -1.6, Annette -1.2, Yakutat -1.1, Kodiak +0.2. Look at how snow is accumulating in Alaska, the Yukon Territory and Russia.

I remember the packed ice on the roads being at least 21" all winter. You have to learn to drive all over again. Car blocks had to be plugged in when parked to keep them from freezing. NEVER touch metal with your bare hand. Sneakers and shoes were foreboden, everyone wore boots and mukluks. Bunny boots weigh a ton after trudging through snow for hours, but your feet won't be frostbit

I heard about a phenomenon reading Julie Of The Wolves where the temperature reached -50 and sound itself was effected. You could be right next to somebody talking and they would sound far away. I would be interested to know if it's true.

hmm that's a new one on me and I've been known to skip putting on "proper" cold weather gear before going outside. (usually regret it later heh)

That sounds more like a Eustachian tube issue than a cold weather issue; imbalance in the ET is what causes your ears to feel "plugged up" on airplane rides and stuff. Though I suppose it's possible cold weather could cause the fluid in the ET to become more solid and produce the same results, but I'd imagine you'd be into at least the beginning stages of hypothermia at that point - which could also perhaps cause such effects (causes confusion and delusions even in some mild cases for some folks.)

 

[saintmichaeldefendthem]

A major early snowstorm hit Northern Alaska. Fairbanks had 6.7″ yesterday (Fri.). That obliterated the previous daily snowfall record of 0.8″. Just north of Fairbanks, 9″ was recorded. Here’s more snowfall totals. A record low was set at Kodiak AK at 29 and small hail fell at Annette. Barrow reported 1″ of snow on the ground and Bettles had 3″. Gulkana had a low of 17. Arctic Village reported a temp. of 19 and a wind chill of +9. The high temp. of 34 in Fairbanks was 15 deg. cooler than the average high of 49 for 9/25. Alaska temperature anomaly is often the opposite of the Great Lakes. When there is a ridge over Alaska, there is often a trough over the Great Lakes and vice versa. Here’s snow in Coldfoot AK. Another wintry scene from Fairbanks.

Alaska’s a big state and all but one of the first order climate stations here is reporting colder than average temps. so far this Sept: Nome -2.6, Anchorage -2.0, Bethel -2.0, Fairbanks -1.9, Barrow -1.9, King Salmon -1.9, Kotzebue -1.7, McGrath -1.6, Annette -1.2, Yakutat -1.1, Kodiak +0.2. Look at how snow is accumulating in Alaska, the Yukon Territory and Russia.

I remember the packed ice on the roads being at least 21" all winter. You have to learn to drive all over again. Car blocks had to be plugged in when parked to keep them from freezing. NEVER touch metal with your bare hand. Sneakers and shoes were foreboden, everyone wore boots and mukluks. Bunny boots weigh a ton after trudging through snow for hours, but your feet won't be frostbit

I heard about a phenomenon reading Julie Of The Wolves where the temperature reached -50 and sound itself was effected. You could be right next to somebody talking and they would sound far away. I would be interested to know if it's true.

hmm that's a new one on me and I've been known to skip putting on "proper" cold weather gear before going outside. (usually regret it later heh)

That sounds more like a Eustachian tube issue than a cold weather issue; imbalance in the ET is what causes your ears to feel "plugged up" on airplane rides and stuff. Though I suppose it's possible cold weather could cause the fluid in the ET to become more solid and produce the same results, but I'd imagine you'd be into at least the beginning stages of hypothermia at that point - which could also perhaps cause such effects (causes confusion and delusions even in some mild cases for some folks.)

I don't know if that's the case here. If you fail to dress properly for -50 cold snap, you'll regret it as soon as you step out the door. In fact, you can't expose any skin at that temperature.

I think it has more to do with the effect on air itself. One thing I learned and actually retained from high school science is that the speed of sound is 330 meters/second at zero degrees celcius at sea level. For every degree increase in temperature, the speed increases 4 meters/second. Put more simply, the warmer it is, the better and faster sound travels. I imagine going the opposite direction, there's a point in which the medium sound travels upon is so cold as to produce a dampening effect.

 

[aris2chat]

A major early snowstorm hit Northern Alaska. Fairbanks had 6.7″ yesterday (Fri.). That obliterated the previous daily snowfall record of 0.8″. Just north of Fairbanks, 9″ was recorded. Here’s more snowfall totals. A record low was set at Kodiak AK at 29 and small hail fell at Annette. Barrow reported 1″ of snow on the ground and Bettles had 3″. Gulkana had a low of 17. Arctic Village reported a temp. of 19 and a wind chill of +9. The high temp. of 34 in Fairbanks was 15 deg. cooler than the average high of 49 for 9/25. Alaska temperature anomaly is often the opposite of the Great Lakes. When there is a ridge over Alaska, there is often a trough over the Great Lakes and vice versa. Here’s snow in Coldfoot AK. Another wintry scene from Fairbanks.

Alaska’s a big state and all but one of the first order climate stations here is reporting colder than average temps. so far this Sept: Nome -2.6, Anchorage -2.0, Bethel -2.0, Fairbanks -1.9, Barrow -1.9, King Salmon -1.9, Kotzebue -1.7, McGrath -1.6, Annette -1.2, Yakutat -1.1, Kodiak +0.2. Look at how snow is accumulating in Alaska, the Yukon Territory and Russia.

I remember the packed ice on the roads being at least 21" all winter. You have to learn to drive all over again. Car blocks had to be plugged in when parked to keep them from freezing. NEVER touch metal with your bare hand. Sneakers and shoes were foreboden, everyone wore boots and mukluks. Bunny boots weigh a ton after trudging through snow for hours, but your feet won't be frostbit

I heard about a phenomenon reading Julie Of The Wolves where the temperature reached -50 and sound itself was effected. You could be right next to somebody talking and they would sound far away. I would be interested to know if it's true.

hmm that's a new one on me and I've been known to skip putting on "proper" cold weather gear before going outside. (usually regret it later heh)

That sounds more like a Eustachian tube issue than a cold weather issue; imbalance in the ET is what causes your ears to feel "plugged up" on airplane rides and stuff. Though I suppose it's possible cold weather could cause the fluid in the ET to become more solid and produce the same results, but I'd imagine you'd be into at least the beginning stages of hypothermia at that point - which could also perhaps cause such effects (causes confusion and delusions even in some mild cases for some folks.)

I don't know if that's the case here. If you fail to dress properly for -50 cold snap, you'll regret it as soon as you step out the door. In fact, you can't expose any skin at that temperature.

I think it has more to do with the effect on air itself. One thing I learned and actually retained from high school science is that the speed of sound is 330 meters/second at zero degrees celcius at sea level. For every degree increase in temperature, the speed increases 4 meters/second. Put more simply, the warmer it is, the better and faster sound travels. I imagine going the opposite direction, there's a point in which the medium sound travels upon is so cold as to produce a dampening effect.

atoms and vibrations slow down, but the ear drum also stiffens

 

[charwin95]

Interesting post everyone. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Freewill]

Moose died in that case, guy was driving a big truck and pretty much wrapped the engine compartment around the moose (I have to guess the engine ended up in his lap, might even be what "technically" killed him)


As for plugging in, heh maybe in the cities they have plug in's at home (the smart ones have garages heh), but I was talking way out of the city. There's only so much you can do really, oil heater, antifreeze, and battery warmers eventually just can't keep up with the cold. I'm sure it's prob. cheaper to burn gov subsidized fuel than electricity in some places as well. Though either way, even in south central Jan and Feb is "snakes on the road" season (the belts snap in the cold and fall out on the highway; which ultimately means your alternator isn't recharging the battery which drains it and it'll freeze solid on you if you turn it off) and we're only getting to like 20 below, places like Fairbanks (second largest city in the state) regularly hits 50 below (they're in the center of the state,) and up on the oil fields (far north of the state) they'll get 70 below pretty regular (I hear they're running [waste] nat gas conversions up on the slope though so it'd be pretty much free to run the vehicles 24/7 up there.)

I was kind of chuckling the other day cause they did an article about how many villages still didn't have running water in the bush, and I was kind of thinking to myself that some of them prefer the outhouse because there's no pipes to freeze and burst then. I live only 10miles north of the big city and they had to run heat into our basement plus heat tape all them to avoid frozen pipes, previous owners had to replace the septic tank before we'd looked at/bought this place cause it'd frozen and ruptured from non-use before they could sell it (I think it was also undersize or something too cause there's usually not enough liquid to freeze and rupture like they said this one had, but who knows with the way this place was built.) I love this house (now,) is a 1978 French Tudor, but it was in a world of hurt for being anywhere near "energy efficient" when we bought it; we've put /at least/ 30k into winterizing the place so it's way better, but I remember the first winter we had it the wind blew straight through the damn thing; no tyvek, the windows and doors all leaked, and they had mixed in newspaper with insulation when they built it. We had to run the wood stove pretty much all winter just to make it comfortable temps inside and if the wind picked up forget it and grab some blankets. Now we can heat the entire place with just the wood stove if we want/need to (we're on an offshoot electrical line with only like 10 people so not only do we lose power a lot which shuts down boiler even though it's nat gas, but it'll be out for 11 or 12 days and shit before they "get around" to fixing it. Priorities and all. On the plus side, they're gonna put in a electrical sub-station because we're getting a school on our street soon so that'll be a thing of the past \o/)

I have power like you. If there is a major disruption in the area ours is the last to be fixed, it goes by voltage level and we are the lowest at 4 KV. Once we were working on 6 days without power and our neighbor had horses to water without his well. I hooked up a generator but there is only so long you want to listen to that. Calls to the electric company didn't yield anyone until I call one day and asked if they wanted to be there when I closed in the switch on the pole, which is what keeps the power out on our road. He asked what? I told him I knew where the line was broken and me and the neighbors were going to splice it together and prop it up with 2X4s. He said he could give me permission to do that. I told him I wasn't asking for permission I was asking if they wanted to be their when I threw the switch. Any way they showed up later that day and put in a pole. It was towards the end of the outages so I don't know if i had an effect but it sure was fun trying.

 

[EverCurious]

Longest we've been without was 11 days, as I mentioned, it sucked but we made do. Wood stove was able to heat the house, but we had to melt snow for the toilets, buy water from the store, and cook in the fire. We were mostly worried that the pipes would freeze up on us, but luckily we'd already winterized the house and we were able to keep the basement above freezing by opening the garage door and basement "cover". The neighbors have a big generator on their back deck but we're about an acre apart out here so the noise wasn't too bad for us - we were jelly and keep saying we're gonna get one ourselves heh. The house down the street was vacant waiting on renovations and their pipes burst, and about four houses down the neighbors had to move out for a few months because of their pipes breaking, other than that most of us on the street have fireplaces/woodstoves (I suppose cause we're used to the power going out every time the wind blows heh)


On the sound thing, I can't say as I've ever noticed any hearing loss/change in cold weather personally. We used to snow machine every winter and we'd all stop for snacks on the trails and go bare eared and stuff, plus uhm bathroom breaks heh (We had engine cookers, so we'd have soup/stew, hot dogs, etc., even did taco's once heh) I can't be sure of the temps all the time, but -35 was pretty typical plus whatever wind chill, though we'd usually try to pick a spot in the trees to block the wind for our "picnics" or other breaks. We did like 8 hour rides when the kids got old enough, I think our longest trip was 10 hours because one of the machines broke down so we had to tow it back to the cabin. I will say I'm glad we don't snow machine anymore, after the kids grew up we all kind of lost interest; just too damn cold heh