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Sub zero weather as High Pressure holds

Sub zero weather as High Pressure holds

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Here it is  temperatures starting to drop  down the ole thermometer. Hit 18 below  last night and high got up to -6. Day was sort of an lazy day with grey sky and  few lazy snowflakes falling  but tonight we have  broken over cast with moon showing time to time.  At the moment we are sitting in between  2  1045mb  highs with couple troughs  stretching  from the west coast over the interior into the Yukon.  Te Yukon HP is dominating the eastern have of the state with  White Pass  expect with winds of  40 gusting to 55. Dropping the wind chill  down around 30 below.  Took on fuel  many a day at Skagway  with those temps and wind  blowing across the car deck.  Hard to keep  stuff   thawed with  that chill  on the overhead piping but we managed to prevent freeze ups and all with out heat tapes. They are an no no on ships.

The 1045 mb over Siberia is keeping the west coast cold  but not like the interior. There the temps  under marine influences  are above zero  and few places into the teens. That may change when that high slides east.  Surface charts  show some pretty tight gradients  south of the Chain so  there are some gale force winds blowing there.

On the  NWS TV show  they show  Northway hitting 30 below to  tonight and  tomorrow  night they are suppose to hit minus 40.  By the way North way is on the same plateau that saw the coldest temps ever recorded in North America. Chilly night that was  in Snag Creek, YK.

 

Today temps at 2330 hours :  -6.1 F

Humidity  77 %

DWPT  -11 F

Wind  1 mph gusting 4 from the ESE

Barometer 30.47 “/hg and  showing falling trend.

Soil temperature @ 18 ”  32 Deg. F

 

Well folks that all for now

Stay safe  stay warm  and keep an log on the fire.

 

John

 

https://www.pwsweather.com/obs/SALCHA1.html

Tanana Jet turns on

Tanana Jet turns on

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Well this  past week has been  mild for us here at the homestead as the Tanana jet  kicks in the  down slope winds.  Temperatures  been in the  20’s  with breezes  up to 20 KTS.  But down in the  hole as I call it with the inversion  building in ( 1055mb ) Fairbanks was different story.   Wife needed some supplies for her fat pill making so we drove to Fairbanks to get them. It was  21 above at the cabin. ten miles up the Rich it was at 11 deg and in an space of  1/2 mile it dropped to 11 below zero. as we drove by   Eilsen it was 2 below and then it  dropped to  8 below at North Pole. On into Fairbanks where once again it was down to  11 below. That is a bit of an  drop in temp. Between  Cleary summit and the airport there was an 45 deg difference.   This inversion  is common  during the winter and  allows for those  cold temps seen here in late December and January.  During the coldest days it not uncommon to see the barometer well over 31 inches of mercury. In fact  few years  back all but one airport  closed to IFR rules and were on VFR rules only as an huge high settled in over Alaska before it  moved south. Temperature were seen around the state in minus 60 to minus 70  below. here to day we hit -5 at 0730 and since then warmed up to 2 above.  Fairbanks is showing -9.

Out on the coast another  nasty storm came ashore with 85 mph winds  damaging several  villages.  On Kuskokwim bay the  village  of Quinhagak  reported winds reaching 85 mph (137 kph) Friday morning causing power outage for half an day . One resident reported cars sliding off the road and plywood flying around. Also one home  that was  partially constructed was ripped off its foundation. The village fuel pumps where also damage  causing  stove oil and gasoline to be ration.  Over in Platinum several homes reported minor damage. The radio station from bethel was unable to reach Goodnews bay  to check on damages there.  Further  north along the coast high winds , heavy snow and blowing snow was the order of the day.

Our present weather here in the Interior for the week is going to be ruled  by high pressure (1030 mb) until it drifts ne over into the NWT and allows for low pressure to fill in as an new high over Siberia builds. That high will most likely  bring cooler temps then what we been seeing.

 

Today weather  @ 1400 hr

Temperature 1.9 F

Humidity 74%

Wind  0 from the east

DWPT  -4

Soil Temperature @ 18 inches  32 deg.

Sun to low to get solar reading.

 

Until next time

Stay warm and Healthy.

Keep log on the fire and candle in the window.

 

John

 

Here something to think about

http://www.gi.alaska.edu/alaska-science-forum/are-we-living-warm-peak-between-ice-ages

 

Gravitating towards the minus zero mark

Gravitating towards the minus zero mark

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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

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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