"Brrrrr. Near-record cold chills Interior Alaska
Published Wednesday, February 6, 2008
You were hoping it wouldn’t get any colder.
But it did.
The National Weather Service sent out a notice this afternoon reporting some stunningly low temperatures, including an unofficial mark of 70 degrees below zero at Tok at 8 a.m.
The last time an official temperature of 70 below or colder was recorded in Alaska came on Jan. 1, 2000, when a reading of 72 below zero was recorded at Chicken, the tiny community on the Taylor Highway in the Fortymile country east of Fairbanks and toward the Canadian border.
The coldest official temperature recorded in the state this morning was 67 below at O’Brien Creek, another spot on the Taylor Highway.
Readings of 50 to 60 below zero were common throughout the Interior overnight.
Chicken posted a temp of 65 below; Chalkyitsik and Fort Yukon had lows of 60 below; Northway and Beaver, 58 below; Eagle airport, 54 below; Manley, 51 below; Fort Greely, 50 below.
And how are the people in Tok taking it? Like normal.
“We’re generally close to this temperature at this time of the year,” said Sgt. Freddie Wells of Alaska State Troopers post in Tok.
Troopers have been getting calls about people running out of fuel. He added that people have been staying inside more, that the concern is greater for the community’s older residents, and that troopers are placing a priority on responding to calls from stranded motorists.
Residents of the Fairbanks and North Pole areas also found themselves in the deepening freeze. The Woodsmoke subdivision in North Pole had the coldest temperature in the urban area at 52 below at noon. The noontime temperature at Fairbanks International Airport stood at 45 below.
The weather service didn’t have any promising news, warning that the region will remain in the grip of extreme cold until early next week."
Chez nous, ça donne du givre à l'intérieur des fenêtres!!
