Dry winter
Mar. 3rd, 2016 03:42 pmFAIRBANKS — The 2015-16 winter in Fairbanks was the driest ever recorded, and it wasn’t even close.
Technically, astronomical winter still reigns for another 18 days, but meteorologists measure winter’s length differently. Meteorological winter in the northern hemisphere runs from the beginning of December through the last day of February.
Even with the extra day of Feb. 29, the winter in Fairbanks was by far the driest since precipitation recording began 105 years ago. During the three-month period, the Fairbanks area received only 2.5 inches of snow, coming in well under the previous record holder. Prior to this year, the 1918-19 winter held the record for driest in Fairbanks with 4.9 inches of snow, nearly double this winter’s snowfall.
Nearly all of the snow accumulation in Fairbanks this year came prior to meteorological winter. Between September and November Fairbanks received near-record snowfall, and yet total snowfall accumulation by March 1 is slightly below normal.
Of the 52.6 inches of snowfall recorded in Fairbanks before March 1, 50.1 inches of it is more than three months old.
Not only has the 2015-16 winter been “remarkably” dry, according to the National Weather Service office in Fairbanks, it’s also been exceptionally warm. For just the second time since temperature recording began 109 years ago, Fairbanks did not experience a single day at or colder than 30-below zero.
On average, Fairbanks experiences 25 days at or colder than 30-below during each cold season. This year there were none. That doesn’t necessarily mean there won’t be any. March, on average, has two days where temperatures fall to 30-below. However, meteorologists with the National Weather Service are forecasting above normal temperatures in March. They’re also forecasting below normal precipitation.
Fairbanks wasn’t the only part of Alaska to experience a wild winter. Barrow, King Salmon and Sitka experienced the warmest winters on record. Juneau and Anchorage, which was notably forced to take snow by train from Fairbanks for the Iditarod, experienced its second warmest winter on record.
Wow. A bunch of the snow has melted from the warm temps and some of the sidewalks are bare! It's just fine with me if it doesn't reach -30. :P It's kind of amusing we had to send snow to Anchorage haha
Sig Hansen, one of my favorite Deadliest Catch captains, had a heart attack while filming for the show. He passed out and when he woke back up, he wanted to keep fishing LOL. He was airlifted to Anchorage. I'm glad he's doing ok, I was so worried when I saw the headline on Facebook!
( 6. Something in school you really liked doing that everyone else bitched over )
Today's trivia: The American secret service tried to spike Hitler's carrots with female hormones to change him into a woman
Technically, astronomical winter still reigns for another 18 days, but meteorologists measure winter’s length differently. Meteorological winter in the northern hemisphere runs from the beginning of December through the last day of February.
Even with the extra day of Feb. 29, the winter in Fairbanks was by far the driest since precipitation recording began 105 years ago. During the three-month period, the Fairbanks area received only 2.5 inches of snow, coming in well under the previous record holder. Prior to this year, the 1918-19 winter held the record for driest in Fairbanks with 4.9 inches of snow, nearly double this winter’s snowfall.
Nearly all of the snow accumulation in Fairbanks this year came prior to meteorological winter. Between September and November Fairbanks received near-record snowfall, and yet total snowfall accumulation by March 1 is slightly below normal.
Of the 52.6 inches of snowfall recorded in Fairbanks before March 1, 50.1 inches of it is more than three months old.
Not only has the 2015-16 winter been “remarkably” dry, according to the National Weather Service office in Fairbanks, it’s also been exceptionally warm. For just the second time since temperature recording began 109 years ago, Fairbanks did not experience a single day at or colder than 30-below zero.
On average, Fairbanks experiences 25 days at or colder than 30-below during each cold season. This year there were none. That doesn’t necessarily mean there won’t be any. March, on average, has two days where temperatures fall to 30-below. However, meteorologists with the National Weather Service are forecasting above normal temperatures in March. They’re also forecasting below normal precipitation.
Fairbanks wasn’t the only part of Alaska to experience a wild winter. Barrow, King Salmon and Sitka experienced the warmest winters on record. Juneau and Anchorage, which was notably forced to take snow by train from Fairbanks for the Iditarod, experienced its second warmest winter on record.
Wow. A bunch of the snow has melted from the warm temps and some of the sidewalks are bare! It's just fine with me if it doesn't reach -30. :P It's kind of amusing we had to send snow to Anchorage haha
Sig Hansen, one of my favorite Deadliest Catch captains, had a heart attack while filming for the show. He passed out and when he woke back up, he wanted to keep fishing LOL. He was airlifted to Anchorage. I'm glad he's doing ok, I was so worried when I saw the headline on Facebook!
( 6. Something in school you really liked doing that everyone else bitched over )
Today's trivia: The American secret service tried to spike Hitler's carrots with female hormones to change him into a woman