After a few hours of skiing through deep snow, Forest Wagner and I smelled a tuna sandwich. We knew we were closing in on warm pools of water. From the frozen Kanuti River, we moved along an open stream up toward Kanuti Hot Springs, one of more than 100 hot springs in Alaska. Hot springs […]
An old friend — a character not seen in these parts for a few years — showed up last week in Fairbanks. Ice fog. Ice fog is a surface cloud composed of water we emit into the air all the time; it only becomes visible when the cold hammer comes down hard and hangs around […]
During these late winter days, researchers who are studying the rusty discoloration of northern Alaska streams are prepping for summer field trips. Jon O’Donnell of the National Park Service is one of a team of scientists who will float rivers and streams in Kobuk Valley National Park and Noatak National Preserve in 2024. He and […]
Moments after bashing some drywall with a hammer to expose my home’s water pipes to warmer air, I logged in to see another Special Weather Statement. A meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Fairbanks wrote: “After a brief ‘warm-up’ from the bitterly cold temperatures recently, another prolonged cold-snap will return to the Interior. “Valley […]