Temperature yesterday in Fairbanks 44 degrees, yes that is above zero. It was the same temperature this morning in Anchorage as Daytona beach, 41 degrees. Could this mean some milder temps coming our way in a week or two.

This is the first time I've ever seen a non-snow forecast in January for Fairbanks during a precip period.. ZR on january 19th - even for them!

http://www.wunderground.com/US/AK/Fairbank...typeclick=bigwx

How'd you like this area forecast this late in the season?

http://pafg.arh.noaa.gov/wmofcst.php?wmo=F...amp;type=public

For anyone thinking it gets too cold to snow note the temps here. Checked the Fairbamks NWS local climates and found that Fairbanks has had 61" so far and has 30" on the ground and areas further west have had 90" so far and have 60-65" on the ground. Of course they probably still have the first snowflake from October on the ground up there. Nothing melts, it just compresses.

I don't think anyone worries about sun angle up there.

Still 72 in Fairbanks and mainly green though it looks like some color is developing on the trees at left.

http://www.newsminer.com/arcticcam/

It's having a hard time getting cold in Barrow. Typically once you get to the beginning of October it stays very cold with no snow melt and rapid perma frost development. But temps have been in the upper 20's to low to mid 30's day and night up there and it's raining there now (very unusual for October) and temps will be 30's in the day and well above normal into next week. There's no snow cover and the little snow they've gotten has melted off a few times now. Temps up there have been running 10-15 degrees above normal and starting recently and continuing well into next week may run 20-25 degrees above normal with record high temp potential.

http://www.gi.alaska.edu/snowice/sea-lake-...row_webcam.html

what a miserable place....didn't know hell could be so cold

It's finally getting colder up there in Barrow and snowing and accumulating in this shot. They've had some snow before and it melted off. But this snow that's accumulating now won't melt off till next May as it just gets colder and colder this week and at anytime now they can run to -30 once a ridge builds in. They've probably seen their last day over feezing until mid May. Keep in mind 32 degrees is about 20 degrees above normal now.

I don't see how Sara Palin can live up there.

She doesn' live in Barrow. Only 4,683 people live there though I heard a rumor you were going to become the 4,684th.

Good post.

LMAO!!!!!!!!!

I can't picture Terry in Alaska.

Heaviest snow I've seen in Barrow since I discovered this webcam. TWC has it as 17, windy (33mph gusts) and .2 miles visability.That temp is probably still above normal for them. This snow will not melt until May or early June!

They've gotten decent snows in Barrow - I'd guess 8-15" in total. It fell with upper teens to mid 20 temps so it has good water density to it as well. They also had 50 mph winds and a ground blizzard whipping it around. It's hard to assess depth but those are certainly large piles and you can bet your life they aren't going to melt for 7-8 months. For the first time I've noticed there's life in that building or house as the upstairs lights are on. That looks like a boat or the shell of a boat in that yard behind the shed. Hey, maybe this is where snowfreak goes fishing?? But that ocean is going to freeze over in the next 30-40 days, so fishing cancel.

LOL,Ice im pretty sure i can pull a salmon or trout out still.

Ice fishing in 30 days.LOL

I lived in Alaska for 7 years. You either love it or hate it. I hated it! Wasilla is about a 35 minute drive from Anchorage (where Palin lives).
The constant dark in the winter coupled with freezing temps drove me nuts. Not to mention there is NOTHING to do there in the winter except snowmachine (which is a blast!). We had one winter where it didn't really snow until January! There was some kind of frost on everything that made it look like snow, but it was frost. The ice fog is pretty cool looking. It looks like you're in a snow globe watching all the glitter fly around.

Personally, it's a nice place to visit (for 10 days at the end of June), but living there was not for me.

Barrow oceanfront icing over very quickly now. Temps around or below zeto constantly now. Just amazing to see snow stick to an ocean.

LIFE!!!haha see the suv by the water?

looks like a scene from some sci-fi movie of a distant frozen planet.

22 below zero in Fairbanks now and headed to -30 the next several nights.

Ice,

You obviously check this webcam alot. What is the normal timing of this freezing over? Is it late, early, on time this year?

I'm actually checking it more than ever because I was interested to see how fast it would freeze over. This year is late as Barrow had one of the warmest October's in history. In fact if it weren't for a few last minute very cold days in October it would have been a record warm month for Barrow. Usually the ocean freezes over a few weeks before this and there's ice build up in October. This year the build up and now rapid freeze up only has happened in the last week or so. I was also interested to see the sun angle in november. It was very low. They started the month with about 7 hours of sunlight but now they are down to about 2 hours and the sun sets for about 2 months on Thursday. But they still have some twilight for a few days after that and then it's pitch black until January 18th or so when they get some tewilight back before the sun finally rises days after that.

Co-incidentally one of the warmest Octobers in Barrow history, I believe a hair warmer than this October, is October 1972. That was also a year that the MA and our area had a very cold October. In fact places like Baltimore had mid October snow. Trenton had 2" of snow in mid October that year. That was one of the least snowiest winters in our history. Philly had no measurable snow. DC had .1" of snow and NYC had 3.5".

Lets hope we don't see a repeat of this.

Blinding sunshine and -21 degrees in mid afternoon. It seems like Fairbanks went from a really long period of 35-45 degree days with no snow to -20 to -30 in less than 10 days. Somehow AW seems to think that -21 feels like -10. I'd love to see the math on that. Take that real feel temp of theirs and deposit in whatever unfrozen body of water you can find up there.

http://www.newsminer.com/pages/arcticcam

You'd never know there was an ocean there now. The land snow and ice disappears before the ocean snow and ice does. It'll be about 7 months before we see the ocean resurface off Barrow again.

Those extremes are pretty amazing when you think about it.

Take a look now. They're soon to go full blackness as the days of getting twilight for a few hours are ending. Sunshine is long gone but they do transition through a dwindling twilight period for about a month. This is a great shot, with the ocean totally frozen and snow covered under a beautiful full moon. No trees to hinder any view this far north. I wonder where the tree line cuts off between Fairbanks and Barrow. Nothing can grow in Barrow. But the Fairbanks landscape actually has trees that look decently round and full.

Here's the AK Timberline.

As cool (no pun intended) as that looks and would be to visit for a month or so, I have to believe that the environment there would have to be depressing.

I have posted in a bunch of the threads here that unlike normal folks I do like the long nights of winter (albeit thats fully knowing we get long days of summer). I do like snow and cold and being out in it. But staring over that frozen ocean at nothing but the moon has to be awfully bleak after a while. Don't really know becasue I have never tried it, but just doesn't sound appealing. Glad they have a webcam that I can glance at once a month or so for 2 minutes to get my fill.

Two things to note on this Barrow weather forecast. the first is scientific, the second is comical:

1. Look at the temps it will snow at. We always hear it might get to cold to snow. But that's obviously a myth.

2. In the column that says weather condition is very poor, it advises you to stay warm on the links. Anyone want to go play a few rounds in Barrow now, aside from Tiger?

http://www.weather.com/outlook/recreation/.../USAK0025?role=

The lower visibility here is caused by light snow falling in Barrow. For those that think it gets too cold to snow this snow is falling at -20 farenheit with a -27 DP and a -45 wind chill. I'd guess at that temp and DP this is probably more than a 50:1 snow ratio. BTW Barrow gets no sun yet but it's not entirely black. They are actually past their worst darkness period and gaining more twilight each day. Barrow is never totally dark in winter (I thought they did go to total 24 hour blackness but they don't) but in summer they are in sunlight 24 hours for a few months and daylight for 24 hours longer than that. Even in the shortest day there they get some bright twilight for 2+ hours and twilight overall for almost 3 hours. I'm not sure how far north you have to go to be in pure blackness. Here's Alaska's daylight periods in winter on the day after the shortest day. Sunlight is getting closer to coming back over the horizon now in Barrow - it's about a week away. But that ocean will need another 4-5 months to melt off.

With regard to snow removal - nothing works in these conditions.

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art60031.asp

Thought this was fog but it's not. Ground blizzard at -15 with 35-55mph winds in Barrow and keep in mind Barrow is now enterring it's coldest climate. It's one of the few places where February is colder on average than January, probably because the ocean freezes further and further out. How the heck does anyone live in this climate?

would be fun for about a week or two

It's calmed down up there from yesterday but the daylight just got a lot longer. We could never imagine it here but up in Barrow yesterday there was 15 minutes of sun, today there's an hour and 17 minutes and 8 days from now by the 31st there'll be almost 4 hours of sun and by the end of February they have more than 9 hours of sun. Our daylight gains are so gradual by comparison. Of course by sometime in April they never get dark (it's either sun up or twilight out) and in May the sun is up 24 hours a day. What a world that is.

Lightning strike causes a 4,000 acre wild fire near Fairbanks. Temps in high 70's and 80's with single digit humidity up there. Hard to believe they got T-storm development, let alone dangerous lightning in those conditions. There are actually several lightning caused fires ravaging the state along with many others as much of the state is havng reocrd heat. Barrow is an exceptiion but even up there the ocean is finally thawing and opening up.

http://newsminer.com/view/full_story/77280...home_lead_story

http://newsminer.com/view/full_story/77280...ndow_left_top_2

Little snow left but most of it melted.

http://seaice.alaska.edu/gi/observatories/barrow_webcam



Barrow has a very high suicide rate. I wonder why.