Bitter cold records broken in Alaska – all time coldest record nearly broken, ....

watts up with that? ^ | January 30, 2012 | Anthony Watts

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Jim River, AK closed in on the all time record coldest temperature of -80°F set in 1971, which is not only the Alaska all-time record, but the record for the entire United States. Unfortunately, it seems the battery died in the weather station just at the critical moment.

Image from hamweather.com

While the continental USA has a mild winter and has set a number of high temperature records in the last week and pundits ponder whether they will be blaming the dreaded “global warming” for those temperatures, Alaska and Canada have been suffering through some of the coldest temperatures on record during the last week.

For example in  Circle Hot Springs, AK on Sunday, 29 Jan 2012 the HIGH temperature was a blistering -49°F, breaking the  -44°F record which has stood since 1917. It gets better.

That same day in Circle Hot Springs the low temperature was  -58°F   breaking the old record of  -52°F set  in 1941 by six degrees.

Here’s a list of temperature records in Alaska from the past week:

Brrr!

While all that was happening, the weather station in Jim River, AK closed in on the all time record coldest temperature of -80°F set in 1971. That’s not only the Alaska all-time record, but the record for the entire United States. Unfortunately, the weather station stopped reporting at -79°F.

Here’s the data feed at that moment:

[SierraWasp]

Hey Ernest... we’re planning a summer trip up the Alcan Hwy to celebrate our 50th. I wasn’t planning to buy snow tires for the motorhome!!! (grin)

[Marine_Uncle]

It is a bit hard to even comprehend what they must go through.

[BenLurkin]

Is that what passes for a “hot” chick in Alaska?

[beaversmom]

As a kid, we used to live in Limestone, Maine and then came to CO. So I’m used to snow and cold, but I wouldn’t make it 5 minutes out in the wild in that kind of weather. Would love to visit AK someday during their brief warm period.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

EEEEK!!

That’s too cold.

[Marine_Uncle]

I've skied the western mountains as well as primarily many years in Vermont, during the really cold cycle during the seventies and eigthies. Lowest temps I walked about late at night in a valley say a few miles from Killington Vermont was -38F. Skied in -25F at Jackson Hole Wy..
But as you mentioned, it is very dangerous to be outside un-properly dressed to the hilt, in the temps parts of Alaska and the NW Canada provinces are now experiencing.
My dad fifty years back described in detail how bad things where for him and his few signal corps Army associates at Fort Churchill, Manitoba back in the 1940's during WW2 when they would routinely experience below 50 conditions.
Real gradual global warming would be better for all humans and animal and plant life alike. Shame it is not the case.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Ernest. Someone at work mentioned below-zero temps and storms in the Balkans.