29 January 2014

While the Lower 48 Freezes ...

Warm weather blanketing Alaska for days now has shattered records, turned plants green and changed the way some people live. 

The temperature hit 62 degrees at Port Alsworth, on Lake Clark, on Monday, tying the highest January temperature ever recorded in the state, the National Weather Service reported.

Nome peaked at 51 degrees, topping the city's warmest January with a temperature typical of early June, forecasters said.

In Anchorage, snow continued melting Tuesday in the latest of 15 consecutive days with temperatures at 32 degrees or above. As of Monday, it was the city's fourth warmest January ever recorded.
Green grass greets motorists along Northern Lights Boulevard just west of C Street on Tuesday, January 28, 2014, outside the Wells Fargo building. ERIK HILL — Anchorage Daily News

We're slowly cooling off again; the weatherman said that we'll lose "one to three degrees each day" over the next several. But even then we'll be 10 degrees warmer than normal, and there's no snow in the forecast.

14 comments:

PioneerPreppy said...

With that warm ground and so much water come growing season they maybe beating some pumpkin and other records up there.

Rev. Paul said...

They do that every year anyway, Preppy. 23 hours of daylight will do that to a garden. :)

The Milk Maid said...

It is just hard to believe Alaska is warmer than NY right now. I would love it if it was 32 out instead of single digits with below zero lows and wind chills.

Rev. Paul said...

Welcome, Milk Maid! We'd love it if the situation were reversed, too. I'll swap you...

ProudHillbilly said...

Yowza. I be jealous. But I keep telling myself the cold will kill some of the vermin off.

Rev. Paul said...

Don't be too jealous, PH - we're going to pay for this warm spell. There are at least three more months of winter coming. I just hope we get some snow cover on the ground before it gets REALLY cold, so the pipes don't freeze.

Jacked Up Glock Mom said...

Please tell me this is not the beginning of the Poles shifting? I am in NE Florida..our high today was only 35. Now there is sleet and icey roads in the forecast for tomorrow...

Rev. Paul said...

I don't think so, but then ... who knows?

Cathy said...

No way! That picture of green grass. No way! I can hardly remember green grass we're so buried in snow. This is getting reeeally weird.

Rev. Paul said...

Cathy, that's normally what I say in comments on other folks' blogs. Three weeks ago, we had two feet of compacted snowcover. This is just ... weird, as you say.

joated said...

Any news about the Iditarod and/or Yulon Quest routes? Will they be replacing thier sleds with wagons?

Rev. Paul said...

There was something yesterday about the Yukon Quest re-routing part of the run to go around melted sections. The Iditarod's 5 weeks away, so things might still change.

Sandy Livesay said...

Rev. Paul,

You've had enough moisture to make green grass. We obviously are doing something wrong here, ours is still dry and dead looking. This will change for us come Tuesday 4 - 6 inches of snow and extreme low temperatures. I think it's time for a vacation to Alaska!!

Rev. Paul said...

Sure, Sandy, come on up with Bulldog Man & we'll make a day of it! You'd get here just in time for the next blizzard ... heh.