Have a Cold One

The 4pm AST NOAA_15 infrared image shows skies clear or clearing over most of Interior Alaska as big high pressure…surface and aloft…builds, current about 1046mb centered near Galena.


The airmass is still cold. The afternoon high temperature at Bettles was 48 below, and temperatures throughout the Interior are now falling sharply in the valleys. Fairbanks Airport fell to 37 below at 4pm, an 11 degree drop since noon. In the Fairbanks area hills temperatures have continued to creep down during the day, with 4pm temperatures of 29 below on Cleary Summit. Here on Keystone Ridge, the 4pm temperature of 32 below is the lowest temperature in more than three years. The afternoon sounding from Fairbanks shows very little temperature change in the lowest 1000 meters of the atmosphere:



That will change over the weekend as the airmass starts to warm from above. But for now, we've got a cold one.