12 above!
In the winter when we say 20degrees, everyone knows we mean NEGATIVE 20. We just drop the minus.
Once temperatures dip below zero in Tok, Alaska, they don't usually come back up for a long, long time. This year it was a long, long, LONG time before we saw above zero temperatures again. In fact, this year has the dubious honor of being the second longest streak of days below freezing on record. In 1972 we saw a streak of 158 days of temperatures never reaching above zero. This year was a close second at 151 days below freezing... and still counting!
We came close today - but then again it IS April Fool's Day, so we would hardly have believed our eyes. I would have thought maybe the National Weather Service was playing another trick on us, like the Federal Aviation Administration did over Christmas, forecasting Magic Reindeer Dust, and advising Rudolph Nose lights to be used on all runways. But no, we only reached 29 degrees today. Yet another cruel joke of Mother Nature.
However, my spirits were lifted this morning when I got out of bed for my morning run and was greeted by an ABOVE zero temperature of 12 degrees on my Weather Underground app, for the first time in I can't remember when. Just last week it was consistently -25 on my morning runs. But with the sun actually warming things up now, we can have swings from -25 in the morning to 25 degrees above zero by afternoon! This time of year we actually have to specify above or below zero when we say the temperature.
Spring in Alaska is different than springtime "outside" - as we call everywhere in the lower 48. We look forward to warm sunny days above zero and get excited about activities like ice fishing and skiing that are oh so much more pleasant when the sun warms up our days. Sitting outside soaking up the sun at a balmy 25 degrees - ABOVE- while jigging for trout on the ice is one of my favorite past times ever. In fact, I like spring snow activities so much that I really don't mind if it stays below freezing a little longer. We know that once it hits above freezing, the spring "break up" as we call it, is fast and furious, and hails a season of slush and mud that is just a mess. Above zero but below freezing is a rare and magical time in Interior Alaska.
Spring in Alaska is the hope of a great summer ahead, the relief of "we made it through another one!", and the pure joy of plentiful vitamin D soaking into my skin. And when we say the temperature, we have to specify "above" or "below" because in the springtime in Alaska you just never know!
