Alaska Ping.
Posted on 12/28/2019 2:11:09 PM PST by Signalman
Much of Alaska had been frigid this holiday week as temperatures across the state dipped as low as minus 60 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s in stark contrast to a year with record high temperatures and major disruptions of traditionally solid sea ice across the Arctic.
Temperatures in the Northwest Arctic villages of Ambler and Buckland reached 42 degrees below zero on the morning of Dec. 26. The Interior village of Allakaket had the coldest temperature in the state on Dec. 26 at minus 56 degrees. Friday, Dec. 27, saw a low of minus 65 degrees in Manley Hot Springs near Eureka, one of the lowest temperatures for anywhere in Alaska in years.
Simply put, the state was cold this week.
Rick Thoman, a climatologist with the International Arctic Research Center in Fairbanks, says though it’s a dramatic drop from this winter’s balmy start, the weather pattern is normal for this time of year.
“We’ve just gotten so accustomed to these persistent runs of above normal weather that even somewhat below normal for more than a day or two really seems outstanding,” Thoman said.
Despite the drop in temperatures, Thoman says this last-minute cold snap likely won’t change Alaska’s record-breaking climate forecast for the year.
“2019 is, at this point, virtually certain to be the warmest year of record for Northwest Alaska, and the state as a whole,” Thoman said.
While not making much of a dent in the average temperatures for the year, Thoman says the cold snap is helping create sturdy sea ice — which saw record-low growth during this warmer winter.
“The cold weather has helped to finally pretty much freeze over the Chukchi Sea — very late freeze-up — and now starting to work on the Bering Sea,” he said. “So that’s all good news for moving forward as we move into spring.”
That’s good news for a lot of Arctic communities who rely on sea ice for travel and subsistence hunting.
Claude Wilson is on the board of directors for the Iron Dog Snowmachine Race and puts on local races in Kotzebue. He says he regularly checks on the ice.
“You know, trying to keep track of the thickness because we don’t want people taking their vehicles out on the ice unless it’s safe,” Wilson said.
For Wilson, safe for racing means thicker than a foot of sea ice.
“[In] years past it was always a go because we always had more than two feet of ice,” Wilson said.
This spring, Wilson saw ice as thin as five inches, which made him and other organizers nervous. He says the recent cold snap has made him more hopeful that the ice will be thick enough to race this winter. Ice readings earlier this month were 14 inches near shore, and thicker towards the ocean.
Wilson says he wants to continue to see temperatures below zero.
“I think every ten days, it adds an inch to the thickness,” Wilson said. “So we’re hoping it’ll be a little thicker than it was just nine days ago.”
If the ice remains solid, Wilson will be able to put on the annual Knight Rider Snowmachine race in Kotzebue on New Years.
Alaska Ping.
So much for climate change.
And records began?? Hell...we haven’t even begun to touch Alaska.
-42 below zero is warm? On what planet are these people living on? Geez.
Heck. I’m breaking a sweat just thinkin’ about it. It’s never been warm in Alaska. Ever. Nope not ever.
I’m still trying to figure out why warming temps are so horrible ... wouldn’t it give the world new, rich arable land and more fresh water? Wouldn’t we need less coal and electricity for heating? The hottest areas are still going to be hot, maybe deserts expand a bit, but the most ecologically diverse lands are equatorial and warmer temperate zones. Just imagine how much more wheat and corn could be grown up into Canada. And the Polar bears and other wildlife will adapt.
FYI, for all you idiots out there who think global warming is a hoax, hot weather is climate, but cold weather is just weather.
Because more people will be thinking about moving to Alaska,
where we all live in igloos, in total darkness for 9 months out of the year, eat whale blubber, hunt seals from kayaks and make our women chew the sealskins to soften them before stitching them into garments with fish bone needles they make themselves while huddled around the short wave radio for news of the outside world,
if they think the climate is warming and the weather in a large part of the state is actually a lot like Seattle.
And when the records began they were using mercury thermometers.
What they’re using now may be more accurate but it also means you can’t use the old readings to compare with.
“Virtually certain” LMAO!
On a related note:
Daily CO2 readings
Dec 27 2019 412.6 ppm
Dec 27 2018 408.83 ppm
+3.77PM in one year
Read that number . Let it sink in.
If this trend continues, we would need 40 years to double the ppm. and have +5.3 C of warming, according to the latest science.
The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere increases every year. The early years at Mauna Loa saw annual increases averaging about 0.7ppm per year, increasing to about 1.6 ppm per year in the 1980s and 1.5ppm per year in the 1990s. The rate rose to 2.2 ppm per year during the last decade. There is abundant and conclusive evidence that the
acceleration is caused by increased emissions, Tans said. https://scripps.ucsd.edu/pr...
First weather stations not active until the 1920’s. And Alaska is huge....
That is the same bullsh!t code they use all the time, like “many say” or “many believe”.
“Virtually certain” means “completely uncertain” in today’s American English; it is clintonesque BS (I couldn’t have been alone with her if she was there - that means I wasn’t alone!)
When we lived along the Yukon, minus 65 was normal at 6am. I’d run dogteam downriver 50 miles and my eyeballs kept freezing shut; my eyelids that is. I’d bite my mitten and use my fingers to break the ice on my eyelids or I couldn’t open them; like every 15 minutes. Moose would walk up on my porch and lay nx to the door; ready to invite them in, ha ha. We’d also get wolves in our garbage cans at 3 am. I’d hang out window and shoot at them with the 6.8 stag. I’m 66 and still ride snowmachine, hunt some, and fish religiously. They couldn’t run me outta Alaska. Best thing I ever did; changed my life.
I don't think anyone can say that for Minnesota.
Cool post!
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