FIRST SNOW

FIRST SNOW

It’s official, it snowed in Fairbanks today. In fact it’s still snowing at 8:45pm, and it’s almost accumulating on the deck and leaves. I am in Fairbanks training through the rest of the team’s rest week because I was sick earlier and missed enough training already. It’s very interesting training away from the team, having to think for yourself about where to do each workout and what terrain would be appropriate. I also did a leg of the Equinox Marathon Relay, which is an event that I have been support crew for and been around since I was probably ten years old. Finally participating in that was pretty exciting, once I accepted the fact that my body doesn’t work like a runner’s any more. I don’t think I have really raced a running race since high school, and it feels like my hamstrings can’t handle being springy while running fast anymore. They’re trained for a different movement entirely. Even more exciting though is the fact that it’s snowing here in Fairbanks! Snow that sticks (only at night) at 300ft altitude. That is pretty fantastic if you ask me! I really love this time of year, it just tingles with anticipation for winter. Usually it’s crisp and clear out, with vibrant yellow leaves and a pleasant bite in the air.

I researched weather history in Fairbanks briefly to find out if this is a normal time for a first snow. Apparently we had trace snow in July and August last year, but I don’t remember hearing about it. I found a really cool graph (getting a little sidetracked) of the temperature summary for this year in Fairbanks and Anchorage. I put these on my blog thinking the comparison would be cool, but if you look at the Y axis on each graph they are numbered differently. The curve for Anchorage was still shallower than for Fairbanks, but not an accurate comparison. So I adjusted the graph (made it skinnier), and now it shows almost accurately the difference in temperature extremes between the two places. I also tried to line them up so that the freezing point would be at the same height:

Fairbanks- Anchorage-

According to these graphs (from climate.gi.alaska.edu), the record low temperature in Fairbanks is around -65ºF and in Anchorage it’s only around -38ºF. The record highs are about 99ºF and 87ºF respectively. From what I understand, the ocean near anchorage keeps it at a steadier temperature year-round. Here is Barrow and Fairbanks, just for fun:

Fairbanks- Barrow-