Hopefully these excerpts about the frigid ridge that seized Alaska 30 years ago, will help our below-zero heroes feel like Bahama beach bunnies:
“For many Alaskans, January 1989 is a month that still numbs the mind, because of the cold snap that gripped much of the state for two weeks.
In Fairbanks, fan belts under the hoods of cars snapped like pretzels; the ice fog was thick and smothering, and the city came as close as it ever comes to a halt, with many people opting to stay home after their vehicles succumbed to the monster cold.
The 14 days of bitter cold were not a strictly Fairbanks phenomenon. Every region except the Aleutians and Southeast was nailed by a combination of meteorological quirks that resulted in what some called a good old-fashioned winter.
The cold air that besieged the state was born over the Beaufort Sea and stuck in Alaska as a huge high-pressure ridge from Siberia expanded across the state, according to John Lingaas and Rick Thoman, meteorologists with the National Weather Service in Fairbanks.
Frigid air within the high-pressure system sat over the state like a sumo wrestler, so large and dense that smaller, low-pressure systems in the Gulf of Alaska couldn’t knock it out with warmer air.
From Homer to Barrow, the temperatures fell each day. Fairbanks experienced six consecutive days where the high temperature was no warmer than -40. On Jan. 25, much of the state received a light break when a storm system in the Gulf of Alaska stirred the air over the state somewhat. In Fairbanks it warmed to 33 below.
But we hadn’t seen anything yet. A dome of extremely cold air moved from Alaska’s north slope to the western interior on January 26th. As Thoman, then stationed in Nome, reported, records toppled at every weather station west of a line from Manley Hot Springs to Lake Minchumina. That same day, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner announced that an Alaska milestone was in jeopardy: ‘The Weather Service predicts Alaska’s state record low of 80 below, recorded January 23, 1971 at Prospect Creek on the Dalton Highway, is likely to fall this week, possibly even today.’
The record held but Tanana came close to knocking it off, with an official low of 76 degrees below zero. McGrath followed closely at 75 below….”
“The cold snap was caused by a reduction of warm air advection resulting from a southward-shifted jet stream. This prevented low-pressure systems to move in and warm the Interior, thus high pressures built and temperatures plummeted. The worst of the cold snap, occurring during the end of January, was exacerbated by cold-air advection near the surface from Siberia.
A variety of consequences strained Alaskans because of the cold snap. The troubles included: fuel shortages, congealed heating fuel, cars not being able to start, scattered telephone outages, frozen water and sewage lines, and non-delivery of supplies to villages. Many single-day and multi-day records were set during these two weeks. On January 31 in Northway, the pressure rose to 31.85inHg, which became the highest North American pressure ever recorded, until the record was broken two days later in Dawson City, Yukon. The coldest temperature during this time was -76F in Tanana, followed by -75F in McGrath, but temperatures of -50F to -60F were common, with wind chills in the -100Fs”.
After posting the above tower of text, I guess there’s no need for me to mention Verkhoyansk or Oymyakon. ;-O
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