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.

Community Discussion

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  1. realtrue
    2/6/2008, 4:28 p.m.
    Suggest removal

    I heard that North Pole had a power outage today. Is there anyone that can confirm that? From what I can tell it looks like they probably came back on this afternoon already. I was just curious as I had seen it via third party sources.

    RealTrue
    http://therealisttruest.blogspot.com/

  2. clipperetta
    2/6/2008, 4:54 p.m.
    Suggest removal

    Yes, there was a power outage in North Pole today. It was for about 2 hours or so. Being a native of Texas, the cold in itself is something to deal with, but then a power outage and no fire place really freaked me out :) Thank goodness they were on the ball and fixed the problem in a timely manner.

  3. Georganne Hampton
    2/6/2008, 5:35 p.m.
    Suggest removal

    Oh those poor Quest mushers!

  4. Debbie
    2/7/2008, 10:24 a.m.
    Suggest removal

    Jim Kelly the car salesman?

  5. bogtrotter52
    3/9/2008, 11:02 p.m.
    Suggest removal

    Whenever I get to missing North Pole I just check the weather. Arizona is feeling better every winter

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