Here in
Fairbanks, we have been blessed with warm temperatures for the beginning of
the year. Perhaps this is a good omen for the rest of the year. Or, perhaps
it is just another sign that our world is warming up...
At any rate, we are enjoying temperatures that are 20 degrees F (6.6
degrees C) above normal for this time of year. We are not complaining!
Although, it does mean that we have to be extra careful when driving since
the roads become more slippery as the temperatures increase.
The temperature at the time I took this photo (2:00 pm, about an hour past
solar noon) was 21F (-6.1C) and the barometric pressure was 29.09 inches of
mercury (985 mbar). A few weeks ago a large snowstorm moved through and
dumped about 16" (406.5 mm) of snow. Today I measured the accumulated
snowpack at 345 mm. As you can see, the snowpack has compressed
considerably since the storm.
Our days are still quite short at only about 4 hrs long but we have been
gaining about 1.5 minutes of daylight each day since Solstice. Today the
sun rose at 10:54 am and will set at 2:59 pm for a total day length of 4
hours and 6 minutes. We are happy to have even a small increase in day
length!
