40th Anniversary of the 80 below at Prospect Creek

Here's a link to Ned Rozell's article on the 40th anniversary of 80 below at Prospect Creek: includes photos

Warmer Weather on the Way

The inversion was only moderately strong on the 3am Friday sounding, but it has since increased: at 11am AST, Goldstream Valley Bottom sitting at -10F, while here on the ridge its +23F.

All the numerical models have a major ridge building into western North America, with a prolonged period of southerly winds aloft over mainland Alaska.The model plot is from the GFS valid Wednesday morning. Looks like we are going to have to turn the refrig back on!

Little Snow

A general half inch of snow in Fairbanks-land Wednesday night-Thursday morning.
This gets the airport up to a whopping 26.5 inches for the season (about 40 inches here at Keystone Ridge). While not quite as low as last winter, it is still barely half of normal. La Niña winters typically feature normal or above snowfall in Fairbanks, so thus far this winter is not living up to expectations. Of course, still plenty of time, but we're now solidly into the drier side of winter.

Elevated Inversion

Nice example of an elevated inversion this morning, with the really warm air above 400 meters AGL. The difference between the surface and the warmest temperature is 26.2C (47F), which is pretty impressive, though far from any record.

Sharp inversion in the Denali Park area

Cold valley area is gradually being eroded away, to be replaced by much warmer air sitting just above. This has resulted in wide temperature variation in the Denali Park-Healy area.

At 530pm, Cantwell was +30F. The AWOS at the Train Station in Denali Park was +28F, while the RAWS near the the WAC is +4; these less than half a mile apart very little elevation difference between the RAWS and AWOS. The cold air is still in place in Healy, with Healy -13F and Otto Lake and the RWIS near Antler Creek -10F.

Cold on the North Slope

The first sunrise of the year at Barrow was Sunday, and they are celebrating today with some 40 below weather.

North Slope lows so far Monday

Barrow: -45F
Deadhorse: -46F
Nuiqsut: -48F
Galbraith Lake: -53F
Umiat -54F

Coldest temps of the season

Low temperatures in most places in the Fairbanks area Saturday/Sunday morning were near or at the lowest of the season. At higher elevations, these are generally the lowest temperatures since early February, 2009

Valleys:
Eielson AFB: -45F
Goldstream Creek: -44F
East Fort Wainwright: -43F
Fairbanks Airport: -42F
42 Mile Steese: -37F
UAF West Ridge: -35F

Hills…
Keystone Ridge: -29F
McGrath Road CWOP: -29F
Nenana Hills RWIS: -27F (Parks Highway at FNSB boundary)
Cleary Summit RWIS: -24F

No Inversion Saturday afternoon!

NO inversion Saturday afternoon:

at 4pm, Keystone Ridge -25F, Goldstream Creek -19F, Fairbanks Airport -18F

Since then, the temperature here on Keystone Ridge has fallen to -27F, the lowest temperature here since February 2009.

Another nippy one

The Fairbanks area was generally a few degrees warmer Friday morning than the day before, while up on the Yukon Flats it was a few degrees colder.

Lows include

Fort Yukon Coop: -56F
Circle Hot Springs: -53F
Central: -53F

Eielson AFB: -43F
Fairbanks Airport: -39F

For the coop stations that do their observation in the morning, the following may have (probably) occurred Thursday:

Goldstream Creek: -48F
East Fort Wainwright: -44F
University Experiment Station: -35F
UAF West Ridge: -33F

Coop obs from Thursday evening:
North Pole: -50F
Aurora: -38F
Fairbanks Midtown: -35F
East Farmers Loop: -30

Afternoon sun

January afternoon sunshine from UAF; temperature in the -20s

Nippy Morning

It's a nippy morning; in Interior Alaska: there isn't much cloud on this GOES-11 infrared image north of the Alaska Range; the white is mostly cold air pooled in the valleys.

Lows reported thus far this morning include:

Chicken Coop: -55F
Fort Yukon AWOS -54F
Birch Creek RAWS: -52F (btwn Central and Circle)
Fort Yukon Coop: -51F
Bettles: -51F
Circle Hot Springs: -49F
Central: -47F

Manley Hot Springs: -47F
Eagle Airport: -45F
Tanana: -43F
Eagle Coop: -42F

In the greater Fairbanks area:

Woodsmoke: -45F (near Badger Road)
Eielson AFB: -43F
Goldstream Creek: -43F
East Fort Wainwright: -43F
Fairbanks International: -40F
University Experiment Station:-33F
UAF West Ridge: -33F
Keystone Ridge: -16F

Ongoing Warmth

Here are the plots of temperatures for the past three months for Fairbanks and Barrow. While not monolithic, its been mostly mild. Plots from the Climate Prediction Center

Inversions Back

Update below

After bottoming out at 20 below here on the hill about noon Monday, temperatures have been steadily rising since late afternoon, with an increasingly steady breeze. In the valley though, clear calm and cold.

7am temps:

Eielson AFB: -37F
North Pole: -37F
Goldstream Valley Bottom: -35F
Fort Wainwright: -34F
Fairbanks Airport: -31F

meanwhile…

Keystone Ridge: -1F
Cleary Summit: -2F
Nenana Hills RWIS (Parks Highway at the Borough boundary): -2F
Ester Dome: -4F

There is an intermediate zone, generally a few hundred feet above the valley floor:
1 Mile Old Nenana Highway: -15F
17 Mile Chena Hot Springs Road: -13F
University Heights: -12F
McGrath Road: -9F

Update:
At 1015am it was +6F here on Keystone Ridge with about a 10 mph wind blowing. At 10am it was -35F at Fairbanks International. Now that's an inversion!

Sunset on Denali

15 below on Keystone Ridge, sun setting on Denali Monday afternoon

Cold Air on the Move

Cold air pouring across the Brooks Range is producing this ominious scence from Chandalar DOT camp at Mile 239 of the Dalton Highway, the webcam looking NW into Atigun Pass. The Snotel at the top of the pass was reporting -9F with north winds 20 gusting 31mph at 1pm AST. Alaska DOT reports poor driving conditions Miles 274-301 on the Dalton, roughly from Toolik to Sag River DOT. Photo from 153pm AST Monday, from the FAA.

Deep Storm

Somewhat far afield from Interior Alaska but worth a mention: this super deep storm southwest of the Aleutians. Analysis from the NWS Ocean Prediction Center. Shemya had a wind gust to 70 mph and Adak had a gust to 68 mph Monday morning just ahead of the occluded front.

Building Inversion

The Sunday morning sounding shows the sharp surface based inversion, but the warmest air is way up there, above 1600 meters AGL.

Sunday mid-morning temperatures:

Caribou Peak: +4F
Cleary Summit: +2F
Angel Creek RAWS +1F

Fairbanks International: -27F
Eielson AFB -30F
Woodsmoke near North Pole: -33F

Of course, Angel Creek is not a "hill" location. But it is a breezy location.

Moon Shine over Barrow

Late morning moon shine over the Chukchi Sea at Barrow. Image from the UAF Sea Ice program. First sunrise of the year at Barrow will be next Sunday.

Chilly in the Upper Tanana Valley

The coldest weather of the winter thus far in the upper Tanana Valley and in the Yukon. The NOAA-19 infrared image shows the cold air (white colors) pooled in the valleys.

Update 2:

Low temperatures include:
Beaver Creek, YT: -56F
Mayo, YT: -54F
Dawson, YT: -53F
Chicken: -52F
Northway: -52F
Port Alcan: -51F
Tok: -50F
Eagle: -46F

Sea Ice

Quick note on Arctic Sea ice, which is still near record low values as of this week. Image from National Snow and Ice Data Center.