Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

By Dermot Cole

Life was on the minus side Monday morning and there was more than a hint of ice fog over the Chena when I opened the mail and was please to see the new book by Martha Shulski and Gerd Wendler, “The Climate of Alaska.”

The book is illustrated with beautiful photographs and is packed with statistics and observations that will warm the heart of anyone who takes more than a passing interest in the climate. I look forward to reading it in detail and writing more about their book, but I did spend a few minutes reading about cold weather.

It was 44 below early Monday at the airport, the coldest temperature so far this winter, after a 43 below reading Dec. 20. It was 31 below downtown at mid-morning.

I picked that latter statistic out of the air by gazing out the office window at the bright red numbers on the Denali State Bank thermometer. One factor that causes the temperature downtown to be a few degrees warmer is the urban “heat island,” which is the warming that takes place because we heat buildings and cars and warm the air in the process.

Shulski and Wendler of the Alaska Climate Research Center write that we usually have 10 days of 40-below weather each winter in Fairbanks, additional evidence that the winter has been a mild one.

The forecast is for warmer weather today, thanks to a blanket of clouds that could push highs up toward 10 below or zero and bring an inch or two of snow this afternoon and evening.

With a couple of weeks left in January, remember that even though we’ve gained almost an hour-and-a-half of daylight since the shortest day in December, this month usually is the coolest of the year.

“This corresponds to the period just after the winter solstice or time of minimum incoming solar radiation,” Shulski and Wendler write in their book, published by the University of Alaska Press.

The incoming solar radiation was on the weak side 74 years ago Monday, the anniversary of the coldest day in Fairbanks history. On Jan. 14, 1934, it was 66 below along the Chena.

The night before the Elks Lodge held the largest banquet in the city’s history, attracting 400 bundled-up guests, the News-Miner reported.

“The banquet, the chief dish of which was roast chicken, was furnished by the Model Cafe and despite the low temperature of the night, which was the coldest night in the history of the Fairbanks weather bureau, all the cooked food was served hot.”

When the temperature soared to 40 below later that week, Fairbanksans began to think of spring.

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LOCALLY GROWN: John and Jo Papp came in from the cold to deliver a copy of “Like a Tree to the Soil: A History of Farming in Alaska’s Tanana Valley, 1903 to 1940.”

I look forward to reading this one as well. Jo and her friend Josie Phillips began work on this labor of love about 25 years ago. It started, Jo said, when she and Josie asked themselves a simple question: Who were the farmers of Farmers Loop?

The answer to that question and many others are contained in their book, published by the natural resources school at UAF. They are to hold a book signing and reception Saturday Feb. 2 from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Gulliver’s Books on College Road, where copies of their book are available.

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STOP IT: My discourse on traffic etiquette when stoplights are on the blink did not produce any clear justification for the current state regulation.

In fact, Whitney Brewster, the director of the Division of Motor Vehicles, said she agreed with me.

“Your column is correct — drivers should treat the situation as an uncontrolled intersection and should come to a complete stop. They should then yield to drivers approaching the intersection on their right,” she said.

Brewster said the driver’s manual was updated last summer to insert the words “You must stop,” at an unlit intersection, but it had not been updated on the state Web site.

To make this clear, the state should change the wording to follow the example used in other states and simply advise drivers to treat any intersection with an unlit signal like one with a four-way stop sign.

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HELPING OUT: The impulse to help out the family of Marvin and Ruth Root has led to an unusual schedule this Saturday.

Two fundraisers are planned at the same time. That means you have your choice of where to eat spaghetti and help the Roots, who lost their home on Chena Hot Springs Road to a house fire before Christmas.

One event is to be from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Two Rivers Community Church of the Nazarene at 14.8 Mile Chena Hot Springs Road. Call 488-0874 or 488-4460 for more information.

The other event is from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Steese Volunteer Fire Department fire station on Steele Creek Road. Call 457-1508 for more information.

An account to help the family has been set up at the MAC Federal Credit Union.

Dermot Cole can be reached at cole@newsminer.com or 459-7530.