Day 12/13 – Greetings from the Banana Belt
Sleeping lady, and a few passing cars on the Seward Highway at sundown. The trees still have yet to bud.
After deciding to take Mother’s Day off, SpringWatch continues. One exciting development last night was rain falling on the metal roof. It was a glorious sound, and although I feared that by morning the temps would have dropped and it would be snowing again, it didn’t happen. But the warming trend seems to be missing our fellow Alaskans to the north.
The NewsMiner reported:
Fairbanks set a new record low temperature of 22 degrees on Monday at Fairbanks International Airport. That broke the old record of 26 degrees in 1938.
A strong cold front moved across northern Alaska Sunday night and temperatures dropped below zero in the Brooks Range and into the teens and 20s over the remainder of the Interior, the National Weather Service said.
The cold air mass resulted in record-low temperatures in other locations besides Fairbanks.
The low of 22 degrees at Eielson Air Force Base broke the record of 26 set in 1965. Bettles had a low of 10 degrees to shatter the old record of 20 degrees in 2007.
Sub-zero temperatures were reported in the Brooks Range north of Fairbanks… Winds gusting to more than 25 mph resulted in wind chills approaching 30 below zero in Brooks Range passes.
Suddenly, Anchorage felt like the Banana Belt.
Pics of the day:
This beautiful image of a rough-legged hawk was sent by fellow blogger and Mudflats’ Contributor, Wickersham’s Conscience.
Please make it stop raining so I can go out…
I won’t incite anyone to envy by posting about the signs of spring here in NYC. We’re having chilly weather (for us), necessitating the light wool coat, leggings, and long silk underwear to venture out of doors, as well as a scarf underneath the hat. I’m actually glad about it; summer here can be brutal.
We have had temps up to 80 and last night was 34. We had put in our air conditioner last week of course, guaranteeing that the temps would drop. Also washed and put away the blankets.
Sigh.
But after reading your posts, I feel lucky.
Hope it warms up soon!
Sioux City reported a new record high temp for this day in May and fot the month of May-106 degrees. Average temp for May 14 is 72. Somebody dtop me before I post again!
Hey Mike, could you box up some of that heat and send it our way? Not too much, just enough to get us above freezing at night and into the sixties in the day time. I can only remember one summer it got hot here and that was the summer the spruce bark beetles came like 17 year cicadas.
I can send some cicadas in mid-July,too,if you like.Only 81 today.
There are buds on lilac bushes and some flowering trees, actually saw dandelions blooming yesterday. Daffodils in protected beds right up against houses. Hope “springs” eternal. n
95 degrees with a 30 plus mph southwest wind. One thing is for certain,I wish my furnace could force hot air like this through my house in the winter. Where did spring go already?
At 4:51 P.M. mikey time,Sioux City reports 104degrees and clear skies. About 70 miles SW of here.Yikes!
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but Anchorage is supposed to have a hard freeze Friday night (and possible snow), and temperatures around 30 Sunday night. So, keep an eye on the weather before leaving those tender plants out yet!
No wonder the birch leaves haven’t come out!
However, a late walk on the coastal trail last night proved that lots of folks are out enjoying the long days.