A change from warmer than normal to colder than normal in interior Alaska at this time of year is always a rather dramatic affair. This is partly because the climatological rate of change is at its greatest - for example, in Fairbanks the normal temperature drops by over 6°F per week in mid-October - and so it's easy to get a big drop in short order. And of course it's partly because a good cold spell at this date means freeze-up for the interior, and sometimes quickly.
Fairbanks airport dropped to 14°F this morning, but other nearby locations were colder: +4°F at the Goldstream Creek COOP and +1°F at Eielson. It was well below zero in favored parts of the eastern interior: -11°F at Chicken and an impressive -17°F at the Robertson River COOP near Tok.
This is not the coldest observed so early at Chicken, even within their relatively short period of record (1997-present). In 2000 it was -10°F on the 2nd of October, and in 1997 it was -12°F on the 12th, followed by -25°F on the 18th.
Here are a few webcam views to document the state of freeze-up in select locations.
Toolik Lake has frozen over since Tuesday:
Ice is forming in the shallow water of the Koyuk River (always one of the first places to show ice south of the Brooks Range):
A bit of ice is running in the Tanana River at Nenana:
And in the Kuskokwim at McGrath:
No ice on the Kuskokwim River in McGrath yesterday…and ice on the river today! @NWSFairbanks @NWSAPRFC It’s that time of the year again! pic.twitter.com/ioMYhLrbgz
— Bruno (@brunota2003) October 14, 2022
And in the Yukon at Dawson (video courtesy of http://dawson.meteomac.com)
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