I don't know how snoopy/curious you are about such things, but have you ever looked into the "cold case" at your local grocery store? That's the big freezer where they store things like frozen veggies, frozen pizzas and ice cream, keeping them nice and cold before you put them in your shopping cart.
At our local store, there's a digital thermometer inside. At times I look. It usually reads something like -10 F.
Tuesday morning, when I looked at our thermometer, it read -7F. Yes, it's January, and another cold front has moved into our area. It was +7 when I went to bed Monday night, but the front was just moving in.
On Tuesday night, I was at another game. It was -6 when I went to the game. On the trip home, about 8:30 p.m., the car's thermometer got down to -21F. We got to -26 just before midnight. It was up to -15 when I got up Wednesday morning.
But our cold is peanuts compared to other places. How would you like to be in Grand Forks, N.D.? They were in the -30s Tuesday morning. One of my blog friends lives there. They "warmed up" to -16 that afternoon. Sounds balmy. Right now (I just checked), it's -23F.
But if you want balmy, there's only one place you can go: Alaska.
That's where one of my friends lives, the one I refer to as B. She and her husband are a poly couple who live in the Fairbanks area. Yes, Fairbanks, in the middle of the Alaskan interior. Over the last few weeks, it got rather nippy up there. Always an interesting topic, so I have been asking B what it's like to be in Alaska when it gets really, really, really, really cold.
Both B and her husband, I should explain, are originally from Ohio and first came to Alaska courtesy of the U.S. Air Force, which has a few bases there. After he retired, they moved back to Alaska.
Around Christmas, while their kids were visiting, the cold started getting real. "We continued to have mild temps until later this afternoon," she wrote at the time, "when the temps started dropping. We are down to about 12 below and are expected to hit 35 to 40 below by morning." That was the day after they went to a nearby hot spring to take their visitors for a nice outdoor soak. "It is quite the novelty when entertaining visitors in winter."
On Dec. 30, they woke up to -45. "Looks like we may see -50 tonight and another few days of really cold temps. By Tuesday, it should be a balmy low of -28 and high of -18. At least these are manageable temps. The cars hate the cold temps lower than -30's."
When they visited friends on New Year's Eve, "The temp was -50 degrees, so we kept the car plugged in at our friends' and started it to let run for about 15 minutes every couple of hours. When we left, shortly after midnight, the tires had gone square on the bottom so we bounced slowly down the road until the rubber softened a bit and rounded out. It is a very weird feeling! That generally doesn't happen until the temps hit -40 or so.
"We are still hovering around -38, but that is much easier on the cars than the -50 stuff. It is advised that we plug in the cars when the temps get below 20 degrees, as it helps with the air pollution if the engines are a tad bit warmer when starting. It is imperative once the temps dip below -25 or so unless engines are started and let to run every couple of hours throughout the day. "
Many people in Alaska get timers they switch on a few hours before they need to get going, and they have automatic starters so they can start cars from inside a house or office.
B works in Fairbanks, about a 20-mile drive from her home. "In this kind of weather it is horrid. I will have to leave about 1/2 hour earlier than usual, as the drive will be at about 20 miles an hour! Visibility goes down to about nil at times like this, which makes it very slow going. You can't really see cars in front of you." That is because of a phenomenon known as ice fog.
Around that time, The Weather Channel showed a picture of a sign in Fairbanks that showed a temperature of -62. No, said B. They had visited a friend that night for dinner and had seen the sign themselves--the friend called the weather station and learned it was just -39.
"When we headed home, it showed the same temp of -62F and it was still -39F at the airport. When we got home, our temp was -52F"--where they live, their temperature is usually 10 to 15 degrees colder than Fairbanks.
This photo, from the Fairbanks newspaper's website, shows some local officers documenting the occasion ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/62belowsign.jpg[/IMG]
She told me about January 1989, when the all-time coldest reading for Fairbanks was set: -69.
"Yes, we were here then, too. Most of the month was bitter cold, and the schools finally closed as parents were keeping their kids home. In a crazy sort of way, everyone hopes we see a new record low so we can tell about that too!"
I asked her about the ice fog. "The ice fog is caused by an inversion phenomena taking place when the cold, cold air holds all the motor exhaust close to the earth and won't let it dissipate into the atmosphere. You really start to notice it around -30 or so. No sign of it when it is even 5-10 degrees warmer.
"The ice fog is actually vapor and not liquid, so it does not freeze on the windshield. It can leave a bit of a filmlike substance on the windshield. As it doesn't freeze on the windshield, you don't have to worry about stopping and scraping. It is just dangerous, as when it is really bad it is difficult to see the taillights of the car in front, which makes it easy to run up onto someone."
You see ice fog in the -62F photo above. Here is another look, from a photo shown on The Weather Channel ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Fairbk-Icefog-1-09-1.jpg[/IMG]
See what she means?
Another problem she mentioned, one I have noticed when it is below zero here, is ice forming on the inside windows of the car from people breathing. The defroster can take care of the windshield, but the side windows can get frosted up pretty quickly.
Where I live, I don't plug in my car. Some people in the U.P. have engine heaters--I don't. It doesn't get that cold that often, and I only live a short distance from my office--I can always walk.
Up in Alaska, though, it's different.
"Any place of business is going to have plug-ins for employees," B wrote. "Stores do not have them for customers, but sometimes you can find them and use them if not filled up. My office has a parking lot full of them, which is probably why I have to pay $220 a year for a parking decal." ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Alaska-Icefog-1-09.jpg[/IMG]
B said her car is equipped with "an engine block heater, an oil pan heater, a transmission heater, a battery blanket and a trickle charger. All those are plugged into a junction box which has a heavy duty extension cord on it that sticks out the front end of the car" ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Alaska-CarPluggedIn-1-09.jpg[/IMG]
"I have a license plate surround that has space to wrap an extension cord around it so I have it handy each morning when I need it. It keeps everything neat and tidy and I know exactly where the cord is when I need it." It also has a light--so if the outlet isn't working, she will know right away ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Alaska-Platesurround-1-09.jpg[/IMG]
What does the well-dressed Alaskan wear when it's so cold? "To head out in the morning, I wear a polar fleece jacket with a parka over it and I wrap a very, very long scarf around my neck a few times to keep warm. I wear a pair of polar fleece gloves inside a pair of leather gloves, and I wear snow boots made in Canada. I have a heavier pair of boots I carry in my car in the event I would have to walk for any great distance. Let's hope that never happens."
A few days ago, she reported "We were back down to -46F this morning and the fog was in full bloom. It was all I could do to not call in sick. I was sick all right ... sick of the ice fog and traveling in this weather!!"
I asked her about one more aspect of life in Alaska: the northern lights. She replied:
"There is never a time when I feel more humble or insignificant as when I am standing in my yard or on the road and watching the northern lights as they swirl across the sky. They are magnificent, breath-taking and always a pleasure to happen upon without notice ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/aurora.jpg[/IMG]
"It is as if the heavens come alive. Green is the most common color, but often times they are filled with blue, pink and red. It is a magnificent display, to say the least. Sometimes, they appear as a still streak or two in the sky and other times they are dancing back and forth. We see them most often when we are driving [home from Fairbanks]. There are no street lights along the highway except at the overpasses, which makes viewing a delight.
"Some people do not realize that the northern lights are above the earth all the time. It is only when the conditions are right that they can be seen. The intensity of them has something to do with sunspot activity. The best time of the year to see them is around the equinoxes, or equinoces, if you prefer.
"We have a natural hot spring, which is located about 60 miles outside of Fairbanks. The Japanese come over in droves during the winter months with the intention of procreating under the northern lights. There is some sort of blessing that accompanies this ritual."
***
Update: As I get ready to post this, it's -9 here. In Fairbanks, the cold wave is over: The temperature stands at +34F.
You know, it's been some time since we've had +34 here.
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