It’s so cold and snowy in Alaska that fuel oil is thickening and roofs are collapsing
Much of Alaska has plunged into a deep freeze, with temperatures well below zero.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Much of Alaska has plunged into a deep freeze, with temperatures well below zero. Anchorage has seen some of its coldest temperatures in years and the mayor opened warming facilities for people who are homeless or don’t have reliable heating.
To the south in the state capital, Juneau, snow blanketed streets and rooftops as part of a two-day storm that helped set a new January snowfall record of 6.4 feet for the city, which is nestled in a relatively temperate rainforest. That’s after back-to-back storms walloped Juneau earlier in the month.
Anchorage surpassed 100 inches of snow this week, the earliest date the state’s largest city has ever hit that mark.
For much of the last week, temperatures were minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit or colder in Fairbanks, an inland city of about 32,000 that’s a popular destination for seeing the northern lights. In other far-flung towns, the thermometer hovered between minus 30 Fahrenheit and minus 20 Fahrenheit for days.
“That’s a pretty solid streak,” National Weather Service meteorologist Dustin Saltzman said, adding that it was the coldest outbreak in at least several years.
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