Arctic Experience

I borrowed the above picture from the Fairbanks Newsminer. This is a shot of a decorative metal sign at the local post office covered in hoar frost from the exhaust on patron's cars. Arctic winter is fully upon the valley. Tonight as I sit up on the hill looking out over the valley the city of Fairbanks is missing in a heavy shroud of ice fog. Dana asked the question of "how can there be fog when it is a -42 degrees out?" Kelly offered to pray for me.

The air is eerily still. There is no breeze or wind. With the cold temps everything creates condensation...your breath, your car exhaust, factories, and all the wood stoves. The result...ice fog. The lack of air movement means all of this condensation "sits" in the air. Literally. This becomes are sole source of humidity. The actual city sits in a valley between all the mountains and with no breeze the fog all the condensation creates remains seated in the valley. Last night I was up even further into the hills and I was literally driving above the clouds. The stars were out, I could pick out constellations and the moon was beautiful. 5 miles down the hill all that disappeared into a stale collection of ice fog. Think LA, Phoenix, NYC...it's nearly like smog but it's COLD even though it smells like exhaust filled, polluted air.

Arctic temperatures are unique. The formal air temperatures this week have ranged from -35 during the day to near -60 at night. These temperatures do not include any sort of wind chill factor for those of you in the Outside (aka the lower 48) who know about wind chill. We don't get wind chill. -40 degrees seems to be the point of transition from cold to arctic cold. At negative 40 degrees below zero, all aspects of daily life take on a new challenge.

I flew home from Minnesota on Friday, arriving in Fairbanks at 7:24 pm. It roughly -40 across the valley, slightly warmer at my house b/c I'm on the hill. My house was 63 degrees inside. The valley was filled with fog. My truck wouldn't start when I got home. I have it plugged in. "Plugging in" one's vehicle functions to heat the engine with the block heater. In Alaska, it also turns on the tranny pan and oil pan heaters. My oil has already been switched to synthetic oil so it doesn't get frosty at these temps. People put their car plug ins on timers so they don't run up their electric bill any more than the astronomical usual winter amounts. Since mine had been sitting and the timer was only running for several hours a day, I plugged it in continuously for five hours but it would still not start. My housesitters came over and we jump started it, let it run for 40 minutes, and then I ran errands in town.

A drive into town in negative 40 degree weather poses another new experience..."square" tires. When the temperature drops below 40 below, the side of your tires in contact with the ground become flat. It's not because you are out of air. It's because the rubber's temperature drops with the air and ground temperature, semi-freezing your tire in the position it is parked. When you pull out of your parked position you are in essence driving on a squared tire. Drive slow, no sharp turns, and let it round itself back out. It gets better as you drive, it comes back in a new spot on your tire when you park again for more than a couple hours.

Log homes are an Alaskan dream. I was lucky enough to find one as you have all seen. The kitchen sink is on an external wall . This means the pipes for the sink are also on an external wall and inside a cupboard near the floor level. Saturday morning coffee making was interrupted by lack of water flow from said kitchen faucet. After filling the pot with water from the bathroom sink (all the other pipes in the house were fully functional), I propped my hair dryer up on a package of paper towels and in twenty minutes had a running kitchen sink again. It has stayed functional since.

The final challenge of this weekend has been the in house temperature. The perks of a log home with a loft is the natural effects of rising heat. With a ceiling fan in the vaulted ceiling the upstairs stays very warm when the Toyo fuel oil stove is kept at a relatively minimal setting. Prior to this cold snap, I would set the heat at 65 and the house would remain at 65 degrees. Saturday morning's 65 degree temperature setting equivicated to an actual house temperature of 56 degrees. 56 degrees!!! I hadn't noticed the drop in the temp because I was snug as a bug in a rug with my flannel sheets and fleece blanket.

I spent the rest of the weekend attempting to get the house temp to break 60 degrees. I resorted to running the humidifier continuously going through 8 gallons of water just on Saturday and turning on two of the house's base board electric heaters. Sunday I started a vat of Zuppa Toscana to simmer and with the stove running all afternoon and the heat set at 70 I was able to reach a peak inside temperature of 66 degrees. The temps are taking a nose dive tonight to record low marks and the house on the main floor is resting at 59 degrees.

All of the above is part of the experience I was expecting. Expectation and coping with the reality are two separate entities. I knew it would be cold. Learning to deal with it was understood. Physically coping with it has been a challenge. Mentally, I know it's temporary and I'm proud to know I have the skills needed to take care of myself in such weather. I know how to jump a car, I can thaw house pipes, and I know what to do to help maintain interior warmth. Just doing it and maintaining the effort is tiring. I have provided links so you know I'm not making this craziness up. It REALLY is Tougher in Alaska.

Today was my first day back to work after a wonderful vacation and it's comforting to know all my coworkers are dealing and surviving right along next to me. We can scoff at the weather man who says it won't get better until the weekend. We will only mildly bat an eye when this next heating bill comes. We'll hug the fuel guy when he tops off the tank. You know why?

As of December 22nd we are gaining 4 minutes of daylight a day! Last night at 4:36 pm when I left the house there was a brim of sunlight still left in the sky. Spring is coming...