14 Days Below Zero
1-10-2020
It Has Been Cold
The day after Christmas our temperatures decided to become more seasonable, in other words it got down right cold. Freeze your nose hairs cold. Christmas and prior we had only one or two days in the single digits of the Fahrenheit Scale. We even had a 40F day in December. That would be 4.444C for most of the rest of the world. The 26th we had 4F/-15.5C, until about 5:00PM Alaska time we had not seen a plus temperature it seems. We are back to 4F not to long ago.
We have been as low as -18F/-27C, and averaging about minus 10 for most of the last fourteen days. So it has gotten cold. The temperatures really are not off that much from normal, we have had a fairly warm winter this year, it's just that when reality of Normal steps in it seems so so much colder.
We have had some spectacularly clear skies, even into the evening for the last week, unfortunately it has been far far to cold for me to go outside and take pictures, or to even take them from inside with the window open. Minus 14 can chill a room off really fast. Today on the way back from braving the cold on a needed trip into town though I did stop by the Kenai Wetlands viewing area.
This was the last picture that is the road in and out of the viewing area. As you can see not a whole lot of snow so far this winter, so that has been nice. With the really cold weather we generally do not get a lot of snow.
Here is a view of Mt Redoubt from the viewing platform:
The slight yellowish haze you see at the base of Mt Redoubt is due to a temperature inversion and vehicle and wood smoke pollution from Anchorage Alaska. The white smoke haze is the open water channel in the inlet and since the water is warmer than the air we get fog over the open water areas.
We are expected to reach eleven degrees for Sunday, then Monday through next Friday, back to the single digits above and some double digits below 0. So a one day reprieve, that will be nice. One last shot, this is of the Inlet entry area for the small boat harbor and the Bluff at Old Town Kenai. (Some nice sunset picture have been taken from that Bluff Area).
Well that pretty much concludes the cold weather update. I enjoy sharing pictures, and when it is to cold to get them there is not much to share. I hope the Mid western States are ready, Canada is already under that cold air mass, and well Montana eastward is not looking good for weather next week. so be safe and remember it does not take long to get frost bite in very cold weather.
After fifty years or so, I still remember the feeling of -25F, -50F and one day with the wind chill factor -80F up by Mt. McKinley :>)
I walked outside and stood with my t-shirt on when it hit -80F, showing off to my buddies standing inside by the door, looking out at me. They wiped the smirk off my face by slamming the door shut and locking me out (fortunately it was only for a minute or so)
That is cold. That was one of the issues out in Bethel, AK, wind, and cold like that. It is something you never forget. Like the first time you toss that cup of of hot coffee content up in the air and watch it rain back down as freeze dried coffee. These blocking High Pressure system in the Y-K Delta first happened in I think it was 1988 or 89. Barometric pressure over 31.50, (89). Here is an archive story. It sucked that entire Month of Feb, back then. Sky-high barometric pressure prompts deadly FAA warning
It really was an awful Feb back then. Several villages ran out of fuel, because the FAA would not let planes fly unless they had special equipment on board.
Yes...One does not forget a chill like that; especially when having one friend die from frozen respiratory passageway and another get three fingers frostbitten to the bone from passing out drunk along side the road.
Hey, @bashadow.
Since global warming is taking over everywhere, I'm glad to hear you're at least getting into 'normal' range now. :)
We were even slated for some snow next week, three days of it, but now it looks like mostly rainy and our version of cold, which is what we've been having for a few weeks now. Anyone worried about us being in a drought are getting it all heaped upon them now.
Very beautiful pictures. Snow has a way of beautifying and brightening up a landscape even beyond what it naturally is.
Here it's too infrequent, melts to fast, and generally messes up travel for 24-48 hours to have any great or lasting effect on the great outdoors.
Yeah, snow is great for hiding all the blown around paper and plastic bags, the dead grasses, and just making everything look clean.
I am hoping the snows continue to hold off, but those too, like the cold, I know will make another appearance.
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BRRRrrrrrrrrrr..... way to cold for me !
Our winter to date has been fairly warm. Last November it got cold for a week or two and then turned back to fall. Except for a cold morning or two that didn't last too long, we haven't had much winter. I keep expecting it to show up with a vengeance though, any day.