The first day of January finally arrives.  Today we bust the four hour barrier.  Fairbanks has a potential of four hours and one minute of daylight. 

However, falling snow obscures the sun.  January is statistically the coldest month of the year.

The long cold of winter has settled into every fiber of our life.  Darkness, snow and cold holds hostage even our imaginations.  "Is there anywhere that isn't cold?" my son asked me one day.

However, winters aren't as cold as they used to be.  Ask anyone who's been here awhile.  I remember the January of 1989.  Keith was working on the North Slope, and we were here in sixty-below-zero weather.  Many villages were facing a crisis if it didn't warm soon.  Although jets could fly, propeller-driven aircraft could not function at this temperature.  Broken plastic fan belts littered the highway like an invasion of snakes.  Our old car never missed a beat.  Give me a Chevy any day.

The winter of 2003 was warmer than average with less snowfall on the ground than I can remember.  Enough has fallen, though, to rev up your snowmachine and take a spin around the neighborhood.  Well, you can.  I think I'll stay here by the fire and sip my hot chocolate.

The winter of 2004 had it's share of 30 and 40 below zero. The winter of 2005 was a bit warmer, but not much. In spite of the cold, though, we had a lot snow that month.

Thousands of tiny lights twinkle to the south as the lavendar arctic sky fades into blackness.  I see Fairbanks.

As the night sky clears, the heavens reward us with a spectacular solar light show, the Aurora Borealis.

See photos and read more about the daily weather in the interior in the Fairbanks 99701 web log.