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Author: John Markle

Retired Chief Engineer USMM Unlimited Horsepower Pilot SEA/SEL Amateur Radio Operator Placer miner among other things if I find the time
Warm coming for the next week or so

Warm coming for the next week or so

My featured picture  was last year at this time and into January. Glad had the old analog thermometer as the new stuff on market  shuts down at that temp. Davis  and all the new digital PWS are completely useless after we hit 39.5 deg.  below zero. Modern electronics. They just don’t operate in the cold and military grade  equipment is out of sight unless your rich. 5-8 grand for PWS stations  that will operate in those extremes.

Anyways  so far this year the coldest been -23 here at the cabin and -27 in Fairbanks. Today we hit 35 above again and  starting to lose our spring time fire insurance fast as the downslope winds hit up the  atmosphere. From the forecast look at things for next week it is all down hill for snowpack.

An long wave  trough  over the Bering Sea  and eastern Siberia and  a ridge over Western Canada  continues to pump warm southernly flow into  Alaska. Juneau hit 54 degrees yesterday tying an old record.  With several short waves coming over the the Alaska ranges  in the next week   it will bringing  rain, freezing rains  and some snow to the Brooks. At the present times the GFS and ECMF are out of agreement and  forecaster are leaning more to the GFS.

High Wind warnings are up from Dot Lake thru to Tanacross starting this evening. Southernly flow is expected to drop some over night and increase speeds again durning the Day and speed aroud 80 to 85 mph are to be seen.  Delta Junction to my south (45 miles from me as crow flies) will be seening wind gusting upto 70 mph. The strong downslope winds will keep the chance of precip low  out to Tuesday evening. Then in the lull brif chance of freezing rain or snow.

Out on the coast during this time period  blizzard condx and blowing snow in expected. Up on the north slope Winter warning and blowing slow from the easterly winds. Wed. and Thurs. may see Blizzard conditions form as the eastly increases to 30 to 40 mph.

Storm track for last week been across the Gulf the n it takes the Pacific/North America  track so hold on to your hats East coast  an bit of Alaskan weather coming your way.

Till next time

Keep an log on the fire and Stay well

 

More Heavy snow for Valdez/ Thompson Pass Area

More Heavy snow for Valdez/ Thompson Pass Area

Another  24 inches  forecast for  that area  in next 24 hours as the atmospheric river  continues to  pump moisture into the area.  For those  would  don’t live along the coast   it is some thing to experience.  It  the same as lake effect snows. Fast  build up. Here one link to  news Article.

https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/weather/2017/12/08/alaska-just-reported-one-of-the-most-extreme-snowfall-rates-on-record-10-inches-per-hour/

They avalanche  area has been reopen  but rain  has made roads bad in that area.

 

Last night we had  brief  Chinook  condx. Hit 37 degrees and got most the snow cleared off the roof  as it warmed enough to break the to keep cabin  from going up in wildfire.cohesion on the metal  roof coverage.  No shingle here in the  country. One way to keep cabin loss down in wildfire.

Anchorage are is getting hit with snow and freezing rain.    other then  what I reported it been  quiet  on the home front. Just warmer then normal temps to be expected thru remainer of the week and continue into the next.

keep an log on the fire.

 

John

 

 

 

Road close due to snow conditions

Road close due to snow conditions

Here is excert from Daily news miner.

 

#ndn-video-player-1.ndn_embedded .ndn_floatContainer { margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 20px; }#ndn-video-player-2.ndn_embedded .ndn_floatContainer { margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 20px; }FAIRBANKS – An avalanche has closed the Richardson Highway at Thompson Pass between Miles 12-42, according to the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities.

A winter storm with extreme snowfall — 15 inches fell in 90 minutes in Valdez — is making travel hazardous south of the Alaska Range today. The avalanche occurred at Mile 39 about 3:30 a.m., according to DOT. It is about 200 feet long and 20 feet deep.

DOT crews are trying to keep up with the snowfall on the Richardson, Edgerton and Glenn highways, although the area of the Richardson that is closed will remain so until avalanche danger has been mitigated.

The storm, which has dumped 40 inches of snow so far, is forecast to bring nearly 4 feet of snow to Thompson Pass, where the Richardson Highway crosses the Chugach mountain range. The storm is accompanied by unseasonably warm temperatures, with rain mixing with wet snow, creating icy surfaces.

According to DOT, a drive that normally takes 15 minutes in Tazlina, south of Glennallen, took nearly an hour this morning. Power outages have been reported in the Copper River area and local schools are closed.

Another weather front is expected Thursday, which could bring additional heavy snow to Thompson Pass and snow and rain to Valdez.

and here is another:

45 inches of snow forecast for Thompson Pass

  • By Sam Friedman sfriedman@newsminer.com
  • Dec 6, 2017 Updated 4 hrs ago
#ndn-video-player-1.ndn_embedded .ndn_floatContainer { margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 20px; }#ndn-video-player-2.ndn_embedded .ndn_floatContainer { margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 20px; }

FAIRBANKS — Today is forecast to be a snowy day in Valdez and Thompson Pass, even by the standards of one of the snowiest parts of the country.

A winter storm warning issued Tuesday afternoon predicts Valdez will get between 2 and 3 feet of snow between 9 p.m. Tuesday and 9 p.m. today. The National Weather Service predicts nearly 4 feet could fall at the top of Thompson Pass, where the Richardson Highway crosses the Chugach Range.

The combination of heavy snow and wind along the summits will make travel through the pass extremely difficult.

Thompson Pass frequently gets massive snow dumps; it takes 2 feet of snow in the forecast for the Weather Service to issue a warning there. By comparison, in the dry climate around Fairbanks, the Weather Service issues a warning when 8 inches of snow are forecast, said Jim Brader, a meteorologist with the service.

The Interior also is forecast to get some snow today. One to 3 inches of snow are forecast in Fairbanks. The precipitation is expected to be heavier to the south and east, with 4-7 inches possible in Delta Junction and 8-16 inches at Isabel Pass, south of Delta Junction, where the Richardson Highway passes through the Alaska Range.

 Contact Outdoors Editor Sam Friedman at 459-7545. Follow him on Twitter: @FDNMoutdoors

Kevin you might just recognize the milepost mention in here as you said you were involved with an study in that area.

so far we been lucky only 1.5 inches here.

John

And into December

And into December

Well  November history here and  we stayed at the  8th snowy month . Two big storms in the Bering as they swept along the chain.  The first really bombed out with an drop of 55 mb in 24 hours with  winds gusting to 95 knots at Adak and Attu. The  second one hot on it heels  still pushed it  with winds gusting  over 75 knots.  %0 foot seas in the  bomb and the second had 45 foot seas. Lot of fun sailing in the chain in the winter on the  Dutch/Adak run. Temperature high for Nov @ Fairbanks was 30 deg with the low coming in at -29. Here  350 feet higher the low was -27 and  my high was 30 above.

So far December been warm compared to the  standard temps we  mostly see. Pass 2 days we have had a high 0f 35  with temps staying 30 or better late into the night due to Chinook winds as the Tanana Jet became active again. 50  MPH with gusting to 70 at Delta Junction as the winds  flowed over the Alaska Range from the south.

Under an winter storm advisory here. 10-20 inches of snow expected along an trough that runs from Fairbanks  south to the coast. Thompson pass  can get possible up to 30 inches  according to TV WX.  In that area  an warning is up and travel on the Richerson from Isbel Pass  south to Valdez is not advise. Here excert from forecast discussion.

Central and Eastern Interior: A front moving north over the
Interior will bring a quick round of snowfall tonight into
Wednesday for areas north and west of Fairbanks snowfall from
this system will generally be one to two inches. A strong push of
moisture from the south is expected to bring significant snowfall
to the eastern Alaska Range beginning tonight. Current NAM and GFS
differ from previous runs in that they all have significantly
lower QPF values along the Parks Highway corridor from Denali NP
northward to Fairbanks. The ECMWF does have more QPF along this
corridor; however we didn’t favor it since it is somewhat of an
outlier. The current NAM run actually keeps all of the snow east
of Fairbanks while the current GFS still brings in some. Our
afternoon forecast package will contain significantly lower PoPs
over Fairbanks than inherited from the previous shift. Snowfall
with this push of moisture will end Wednesday night. Another front
will move northward across the Interior Thursday night into early
Friday; however the models have difference in timing of this
feature at this point. At any rate it will bring a few inches of
snow.

 

It has been modify from the earlier  discussion but we will just have to see.

 

0100 here and temp is still at 33 deg. F

Humidity 69%

Dwpt  24 F

Wind 2 kts from the east  gusting  5

Well hope everyone had good turkey day

Stay well, stay warm and keep an log on the fire.

 

John

 

By the way that the noon day sun in the photo. 4 hour and 45 minutes of daylight  now. By the 21 th we will be down to 3 hour 45 minutes.

 

 

Snowy November

Snowy November

Well here we are  almost to the end of the month. November started out here with  bare earth and  we are ending up with 15 inches on the ground. According to the NWS FAI we are in the top 10 for snowy Novembers. Coming in at 8th place with and week left  the possibility of  moving up to 7th place. Here on the old stump ranch we have 31 inches recorded for snowfall. Most of it was in 1 week period were 2 storms back to back came out of Siberia and  hit us from the NW quadrant. Coldest temps recorded so far was -23 below. So far state wide there has been no 30 below temps which we should be pushing.  Looking ahead I see an mild winter here for Alaskan standards. Chucki Sea and the Bering Sea are still Ice free, Norton Sound is still open and not much shore fast ice along the coast.

The storm track is up long the Russian coast instead of across the gulf so those big storms been pumping warm  air up into the artic area, Several times this month the  freezing level along those tracks been as high as 14K ASL.

Along the chain they got hit  with one storm couple days ago packing hurricane force winds. That storm is now in the Bering. Marine forecast last night show area  having 50 foot seas.  Ah the wonderful  days of  wind singing  the rigging and the pleasure of sleeping on  the deck as it was too rough to sleep in the bunk.

All for now

Keep an log on the fire and candle in the window

 

Fast cool down as cold front moved thru

Fast cool down as cold front moved thru

 

 

Temperature dropped 7 degrees here this evening as skies clear and  cold front passage passed thru.  From 17 degrees it plummet to  2 above before leveling out and at present  starting to show slow rise in temp. On the other front  over 2/3 of Alaska is under some type of  watch,warning or advisory. From Coastal flooding to winter storm warning  to blowing snow advisory.  Only area with out  anything is the south coast and Se Alaska.

Here  we are expected to get an dumping of snow  3-6 inches with 30 mph winds tomorrow. The storm is expected to start somewhere around 0300 and continue on into Monday morning  before abating as it moves off into Canada.

This pass week we had  snow 5 out of 7 days. The heaviest  24 hour period had 2.5 inches of snow.  So far monthly total stands at 12 inches with 9 inches laying. Compaction and sublimation makes up for the differences in amount. Living in an cold desert sure can make moisture in any form disappear quickly.

Looking at the new charts to night on Alaska weather on PBS  there is another gale with possibility of low pressure developing  over Siberia and with present weather pattern it might head towards out area  after it racks the West Coast area. With out the Bering and  Chukchi Sea (which gets it name  from the Eskimos living in that area) being ice over yet  there is coastal flooding and erosion being done from these  storms as they  take the Bering Sea route. So far this  year very few storms  have taken the southern route across the Gulf of Alaska  to slam into SE Alaska.

Well until later date

Stay warm and keep an log on the fire.

 

 

Gravitating towards the minus zero mark

Gravitating towards the minus zero mark

Well the week end found us with an mixture of weather.  Rain, freezing rain, freezing drizzle, Snow and  back to freezing drizzle in between  the snow bands.  In all we came up with an total of 6.5 inches of precip in the frozen form. Saturdays snow was the wettest with moisture  content of .30 of an inch. temperatures was  mild in the low 30’s to high 20’s. While moving snow yesterday notice that it was getting an little chilly. Just had Carhart vest and  heavy shirt on. When I started it was 22 degrees. So decided it was good time for coffee break. (anytime is coffee time)  and while in I check WD to see what temp was doing.  Was down to 19 and dropping as the  cold front moved thru. Had been dropping for about an hour and stayed there  for the next 2 hours before it started to rise.

With us going on standard time there is really an shortage of evening daylight as the sun keep moving south and has an shorter and shorter arc across the horizion. Not an lot of warmth coming from it due to the low angle.

This AM  wife and  hit the icy roads to head into Fairbanks. Was an balmy 15 degrees. As we started to drop into the Fairbanks  bowl the temps started to drop. By the time we got to Eilsen AFB  temps was down to 3 deg. F. and stayed there  most of the way into North Pole.

Looking ahead  this week in the  forecast it looks like we will be hitting the below zero mark. Was 9 deg this AM for our low under partly cloudy sky.  Last night  had good bright moon shining on the fresh white surroundings.  Almost grab camera to snap an quick  shot.

Other  then the above it back to same old hum dum weather again so with that

Stayt warm and keep an log on the fire.

Warm October

Warm October

Seening how I was told on another forum where I use to post my weather  and happening that  no one really cares about Alaska  weather and that they  know it gets cold up here . I really have said the hell with it. So don’t expect much out of me due to  imbeciles in the lower 48.

 

So far  October been an dud. Warm weather  all thru the month Last year at this time we were below zero every night. So far only one night hit 6 below. Pass week here been rain  but it not from the typoon remmants that  went up the Bering coast.  Only the SW and W coast saw anything out of it as it pushes by Shemya. Even the heavy seas associated with the storm is staying well offshore.  It is typical in September and October to have those  Tropical depressions come thru  either up the  bering if they turn late or into the gulf if  they turn early. Jet stream  at present is  steering  that depression  due north up along Siberia.

Here we  got over a week ago about 2 inches of snow. Chinook came along with  70+ mph wind south of Delta junction  along the  Alaska range and raised temps to the mid 40’s  and melted  the snow. Then  we been having  rain every couple of days to keep  cold roads slippery. This moisture is coming  up from the gulf of Alaska. Latest  surface chard shows  an High pressure system settling  on the Alaska/ Yukon Border.

 

Until some thing exciting happens  keep an log on the fire

Heat and Fire

Heat and Fire

Friday saw the interior under an high pressure ridge and with it came  record heat. Fairbanks  broke an record of 88 deg. for that day . the old record was set back in 1957,(pre man made warming claims). Here at the cabin we topped out at 93 deg.  Just an bit too warm for us even tho I had worked when younger in 120-130 deg. engine rooms. Also  this  temperature  give us an temperature differential of 144 degrees  from  our high to lowest temperature for the year so far. Old  body said time out and we pulled  crawl space  door so  cool air could circulate up thru living space. Cheaper then an AC unit. Saturday it cooled down to 80 for n high.

But in that heat an new fire broke out 10 miles away and the lighting  strike  fire grew to 3500 acres.  The new fire was along the Richardson and  official believed start by an person or persons. An heavy aggressive attack kept it to 15 acres. Three tanker(water Bombers) and one helicopter and  3 ground crews hit it hard .

Today we arte getting an welcome rain. So far we have received .50 inch of rain on the old manual rain gauge and cooler temps in the 50’s. Back to comfortable working temperatures. Hurry up September.

Tomorrow weather is  calling for more of the same as today.

Today weather data is:

temperature 54 F.

humidity 92%

dew point 51 F

barometer 1004.8

 

that is it for now.

 

Stay safe

Sunset before sunrise on the Same day

Sunset before sunrise on the Same day

That time of year where sunsets come after midnight and  couple hour later the Sun comes back up. No longer  have civil twilight here until late August.  Had some thermal activity  today as cold front moved thru . 890 lighting  strikes detected.  Weather  been cool  with night time temps thru may in the 20’s and 30’s. June been warmer but nights still hitting high 30’s.

With the warmer temps and lighting storms our other summer season has started, Fire season.  1000 acre  fire near Tok  just couple miles off the ALCAN.  Fire crews have it contain and continue to do suppression. Being the first fire they were able to throw lot off manpower and equipment at it so it never got into the long burn phase. Hopefully we don’t have many this year.

Conditions here :

Temp 63 F

DP  49F

Humidity  65%

Barometeric Pressure 29.68 in/hg

Wind light and variable

Sunset   0008

Sun Rise 0325

 

Stay cool and healthy

 

John