Unprecedented cold snap hits Alaska

(Anchorage) Much of Alaska is plunged into cold, with polar temperatures. Anchorage experienced the coldest temperatures in years and the mayor opened heating facilities for the homeless or people who don’t have reliable heat.

To the south, in the state capital of Juneau, snow covered streets and rooftops after a two-day storm set a new January snowfall record of two meters for this month. city ​​nestled in a relatively temperate rainforest. This follows two consecutive storms that hit Juneau earlier this month.

Anchorage surpassed 8 feet of snow this week, the earliest date the state’s largest city has reached that mark.

Last week, temperatures reached minus 40 Celsius or more in Fairbanks, an inland city of about 32,000 that is a popular destination for viewing the Northern Lights. In other remote towns, the thermometer fluctuated between minus 34.4 Celsius and minus minus 28.9 Celsius for days.

“It’s a pretty solid streak,” said Dustin Saltzman, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, adding that it was the coldest episode in at least several years.

It’s not just Fairbanks: Much of Alaska experienced temperatures below -20 degrees Celsius on Thursday.

Anchorage, where temperatures reached minus 27.2 degrees Celsius late Wednesday night, is experiencing its coldest temperatures in 15 years, said Brian Brettschneider, a climatologist with the local weather service office. Temperatures are forecast to stay below minus 20 degrees Celsius until Friday, before rising slightly again on Sunday.

In the small town of Kotzebue, 885 kilometers to the northwest, temperatures of minus 34.4 Celsius and below caused heating fuel to thicken to the point that home heating systems and stoves stopped working, reported THE Anchorage Daily News. City Manager Tessa Baldwin told the newspaper that water pipes had frozen throughout the city.

This coincided with difficulties ENSTAR Natural Gas Co, south-central Alaska’s largest power company, faced with two wells at a gas storage facility built to meet peak winter demand . The system has been “the busiest I’ve ever seen it,” largely because of gas delivery problems linked to well problems, company president John Sims said at a conference. press in Anchorage.

Meanwhile, parts of Southeast Alaska were almost mild in comparison, including Ketchikan, where it was nearly 10 degrees Celsius and raining Thursday. Ketchikan is closer to Seattle than Anchorage.

How do people cope?

Last week, Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson signed an emergency declaration effective through Feb. 9 and added the warming centers, some of which are open 24 hours a day.

A man who reportedly fled a house fire in the south-central community of Sutton was found dead early Wednesday, possibly from the cold, Alaska State Police said.

Anchorage sent a letter to a thousand businesses warning them to vacate their premises until snow was cleared from roofs. At least two commercial buildings have collapsed under the weight of the snow, and crews are busy clearing snow from rooftops across the city.

An Anchorage elementary school was closed Thursday due to problems with a boiler, and schools have had six days of remote learning since the start of winter.