The weather, that is.. I just read for the next 7 days, Fairbanks will have an average high of -20 F. Brrr!

Not all is that cold. Anchorage isn't bad. Kodiak is even better.

"But it's a dry cold".

Alaska does really have quite a diversity of climate. Some places barely get below freezing during the winter.

What I really don't understand though is how those guys in the northern half of the State put up with all those hours of darkness during the winter.

-20 f for a high temperature is warm for January! It’s the -50 that can make life difficult!

A bunch of years ago we were at a hockey game and it was -50 and there were 1800 people at the game. Cold doesn’t stop life here.

Temperatures aren’t bad and easy to handle. Just dress in layers and keep the wood stove cranked. Darkness is the tough part.

For me, I would much prefer -20 in the interior than 20 above in Anchorage. The humidity off Cook Inlet makes that wet cold go right through a person.

I love the dry cold and the dark. I start getting depressed when the days get longer

Cold is relative, sort of. We get the odd cold spell here in the northern lower peninsula, and you really do actually get used to sub-zero. I can remember running Bobcats in the winter back in the early 90's. -30 degrees is colder than crap when your walking behind hounds that are cold trailing. Go out and do that several mornings in a row, then the temp jumps up to minus 8 or 10 and it would honestly feel sort of warm! When I lived in Idaho in the early 80's we had a good deal of sub-zero days, some as cold as -45. It absolutely is more comfortable in those temps when the humidity is very low. Also, as far as trapping in that cold......your traps set in those temps tend to not freeze up like when it is getting up near freezing during the day, then dropping at night. I would much prefer single digits, or lower, to trap in.

I worked outside in -20's once. It wasn't bad at all... Probably due to it being dead calm, no wind. I would take it again over our +20 days with howling wind.

But neither of those conditions make for a comfortable Porta Potty experience.

Mike

Id say MN has some of the most diverse weather. -30, -40 in the winter and 90-100 hot and humid in the summer at times.

If there's no wind being outside in those temps are bearable, but add in some wind, no thanks.

You just dress for it-Fur is king for warmth in cold and wind.

-20 isn't all that bad. When I was up there, I'd check traps on the snow machine at that temperature. January 1989 we had a high of -50 for about two weeks. Schools didn't close, but they made attendance optional.

-20 isn't bad . As mentioned above, humid temps make a huge difference in tolerating cold or heat.

Dry cold is so much better to tolerate, for me.

Actually, -20 and much lower is common in MT , the past week has been anything from -10 to -40 , depending on the area.

Just break out the fur and shearling, wool sweaters and it's fine. I too love the night skies and long dark nights in winter.

Only crazy people live in the interior of Alaska.

We dont get that cold here, but I had a bunch of military guys from Fairbanks here one winter doing war games, they kept asking me how cold it was I told them - 20 they could not believe how cold they felt here. It was because the wind, plus the cold they almost never get both in the interior.

Here we are on open tundra, not many trees. The winds from Siberia blow through here and nothing to block it.

Pauls post brought to mind how the weather was when we got here in the early 70’s into the 90’s.

We would get 3 to 5 times over the winter 2 to 3 weeks of -50’s. The thermometer wouldn’t move. Ice fog so thick you couldn’t see 50 to 100 ft. Lots of vehicle accidents. Power outages could last for weeks in outlying areas.

Trapping comes to a stop during those cold snaps if your sensible cause not much moves. The coldest we have ran is -42f but taking risk that machine stays together and truck will start when you get back to the truck.

The Iditarod and Yukon Quest dog races go no matter how cold it is. I marked trail from Chena Hot Springs to 101 mile Steese for the Yukon Quest for the first 6 years and no matter what the trail had to be broken open and marked. One year Pete of Fbks and 2 others made the 100 mile round trip from Chena Hot Springs Over Rosebud to 101 mile Steese and it had to be at least -50f in the valleys! Life goes on for a few of us no matter the weather.

That's the opposite of most folk. I know I couldn't do it, I'd love to go up there to visit for about a month but then get myself back home. Y'all are a different breed up there lol. I'm just a hillbilly, you all are hillbillies on steroids.

I have heard that Preparation H is helpful for steroids.

Yep, the great North Hillbillies lol. Pep H is for asteroids.

Seriously, how do y'all deal with limited sunshine for months at a time? I think it not natural for lengths at a time.

Ya know everything is the same in the dark as it is in the daylight. The only difference is the daylight isn't there. It just doesn't affect me. On the other hand, I grew up in the Los Angeles area where it could easily be 90 degrees on Christmas. I hated every second of it. Can't stand warm weather and I pretty much live in sunglasses no matter the season.

Besides, there is a lot more going on out there at night. It's just more interesting to me.

That leans towards the saying, to each they're own, which is wonderful. I know I couldn't do it, my body eats up vit D3, I have to take supplements. Where I consider the darkness as dark, you see light in it. Nothing wrong with that! Actually, that's pretty cool.