Cold!...

When we got up this morning, we're more than a little surprised it was about -20 F at the house and below -30 in the flats. So after many weeks of above normal temps, the bottom's dropped out.

Temperature chart from the Little Chena River Bridge at Chena Hot Springs Road (courtesy of USGS/WRD)

The NWS have been talking for quite some time about an ENSO reversal, which normally brings cooler, drier weather to interior Alaska. But their long term forecasts have shown warmer and drier than normal. Well they were half right, it has been drier. The average snowfall should be almost two feet by now and we've had maybe half a foot.

At least the dogs got run yesterday before it got too cold; it was a balmy -5° F. Hopefully it'll warm up and snow some more, at least that's the NWS forecast.

Hangin' With The Girls...

A while back we picked up two younger female dogs after a local dog musher passed on (New Dog...2/11/15). They were described as "seriously shy" by the woman who gave them to us. Well now they're grown up, well adapted to the team, but still kind of shy. So Andy got the idea of bringing them into the house to socialize them. At first they were pretty freaked out by it, but after a few trips inside, lots of dog biscuits, and a couch to sit on, they're quite at home in the basement.

The girls like nothing better than hanging out on the old couch.

Clear and Cold...

In spite of all the hoping for more snow, the drought will continue for the foreseeable future. There's barely a couple of inches on the ground and the temperatures been getting down to near -5 (that's about -20 C to the French) at night.
The only good part of these clear, cold nights is the frost that forms on the trees and shrubs creates interesting effects in the sunshine.

The sun barely clears the hills at mid-day now.

Runnin' the doggies...

Back in the day, I'd usually get the dogs out by the middle of September. But as age and arthritis have intruded, it seems like it starts a little later every year. After the last snowfall, there's about two inches on the ground now, figured it was time to get the old ATV going. It's a 1985 250 Suzuki, is really hard to start after it's been sitting awhile, and it hadn't run in over a year. Finally did get it going and have now gotten them out a few times. On the first run, there was a fairly large tree down a mile or so out. Couldn't get the machine past it, so had to turn the dogs around and head home. Went back with a chainsaw and cut it out of the way, so the next few runs went much better. Hoping for more snow soon, so we can start using the sled. Running the ATV in the cold is no fun.

Back in the yard after a hard run makes for a bunch of hot dogs!

Dry October...

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE: OCTOBER 2016 FAIRBANKS ALASKA...

October was warm, windy and the driest in over a century. Strong winds on the 16th and 17th. reached 36 mph at the airport while gusts to 45 mph where reported in the hills.

The first measurable snow fell on the 20th which was nearly three weeks later than the normal. Only 0.8 inches of snow fell at the airport for the month  which was 10.0 inches below the normal. 

The 0.02 inches of water equivalent was the 2nd driest of 106 years of record.

The warmest temperature measured at the airport in October was 59 degrees which occurred on the 1st. The coldest temperature was 2 below which occurred on the 24th. The average high temperature was 37.6 degrees which was 5.7 degrees above the average high temperature of 31.9 degrees which ranked as the 26th warmest of 112 years of record. The average low temperature was 15.9 degrees which was 0.6 degrees below the average low temperature of 16.5 degrees and ranked as the 42nd coldest of 112 year of record. The mean temperature was 26.7 degrees which was 2.5 degrees above the normal mean temperature of 24.2 degrees which ranked as the 48th warmest of 112 years of record.

Looking forward to November the average high temperature decreases from 18 degrees on the 1st to 7 above on the 30th. The average low temperature decreases from 3 above on the 1st to 11 below on the 30th. The average daily temperature decreases from 11 degrees on the 1st to 2 below on the 30th. Over the last 112 years the temperatures have ranged from 54 degrees above on the 25th in 1936 to 54 below on the 29th in 1909. November averages 0.67 inches of precipitation with all of that normally falling as snow. 

On average 13.2 inches of snow falls in the month of November. 

Possible sunlight continues to decrease at about 6 minutes per day  falling from 7 hours and 46 minutes on the 1st to 4 hours and 44 minutes on the 30th.

The outlook for the month of November from the climate prediction center calls for increased chances for above normal temperatures and increased chances for below normal
precipitation.

Ruty don't mind no stinkin' cold weather, he just lays in front of the wood stove whenever there's a good hot fire going.