{"id":10622,"date":"2024-02-03T16:29:51","date_gmt":"2024-02-03T16:29:51","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","slug":"It\u2019s-so-cold-and-snowy-in-Alaska-that-fuel-oil-is-thickening-and-roofs-are-collapsing-53918992\/","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/?p=10622","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s so cold and snowy in Alaska that fuel oil is thickening and roofs are collapsing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A moose crosses a residential street in the snow in Turnagain, Alaska, on Thursday, Feb. 1.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
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FILE – The roof of a building is partially collapsed by snow, early Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024, in Anchorage, Alaska. Nobody was hurt, according to a press release from the Anchorage Fire Department, which responded to the collapse. Much of Alaska has plunged into a deep freeze, with temperatures well below zero and Anchorage seeing some of its coldest temperatures in years as the mayor of the state\u2019s largest city opened warming facilities for those who are homeless or who don’t have…<\/figcaption><\/figure>
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People blow snow from their driveways, Monday, Jan. 29, 2024, in West Anchorage, Alaska. (Loren Holmes\/Anchorage Daily News via AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
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A vehicle travels west on Upper Huffman Road on a frosty and foggy afternoon in Anchorage, Alaska, Feb. 1, 2024. (Marc Lester\/Anchorage Daily News via AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"FILE
FILE – A pedestrian walks down a steep downtown street in Juneau, Alaska, on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024. Much of Alaska has plunged into a deep freeze, with temperatures well below zero and Anchorage seeing some of its coldest temperatures in years as the mayor of the state\u2019s largest city opened warming facilities for those who are homeless or who don’t have reliable heating. (AP Photo\/Becky Bohrer, File)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"FILE
FILE – Nihal Mico takes a photo of her sister-in-law Isil Mico as she poses with her daughter Lorena in front of Snowzilla, a snowman measuring more than 20 feet tall, in Anchorage, Alaska, on Jan. 10, 2024. Much of Alaska has plunged into a deep freeze, with temperatures well below zero and Anchorage seeing some of its coldest temperatures in years as the mayor of the state\u2019s largest city opened warming facilities for those who are homeless or who don’t have reliable heating. (AP…<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"FILE
FILE – Dave Harris shovels snow near his home in Juneau, Alaska, on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024. Much of Alaska has plunged into a deep freeze, with temperatures well below zero and Anchorage seeing some of its coldest temperatures in years as the mayor of the state\u2019s largest city opened warming facilities for those who are homeless or who don’t have reliable heating. (AP Photo\/Becky Bohrer, File)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"FILE
FILE – A pedestrian walks up a steep downtown street in Juneau, Alaska, on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024.Much of Alaska has plunged into a deep freeze, with temperatures well below zero and Anchorage seeing some of its coldest temperatures in years as the mayor of the state\u2019s largest city opened warming facilities for those who are homeless or who don’t have reliable heating. (AP Photo\/Becky Bohrer, File)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
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A man rides a fat tire bike on a plowed sidewalk through Westchester Lagoon in Anchorage, Alaska, Thursday, Feb. 1, 2024. Much of Alaska has plunged into a deep freeze, with temperatures well below zero and Anchorage seeing some of its coldest temperatures in years. (AP Photo\/Mark Thiessen)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"DuShan
DuShan Vujnovic, a native of Serbia who has lived the last five years in Alaska, visits a park overlooking Cook Inlet in Anchorage, Alaska, Thursday, Feb. 1, 2024. Much of Alaska has plunged into a deep freeze, with temperatures well below zero and Anchorage seeing some of its coldest temperatures in years. (AP Photo\/Mark Thiessen)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>

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\u2019t have reliable heating. <\/p>\n

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\u2019s after back-to-back storms walloped Juneau earlier in the month.<\/p>\n

Anchorage surpassed 100 inches of snow this week, the earliest date the state\u2019s largest city has ever hit that mark.<\/p>\n

HOW COLD IS IT?<\/p>\n

For much of the last week, temperatures were minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit or colder in Fairbanks, an inland city of about 32,000 that\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a pretty solid streak,\u201d National Weather Service meteorologist Dustin Saltzman said, adding that it was the coldest outbreak in at least several years.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not only Fairbanks: Much of Alaska saw temperatures in the single digits or below zero on Thursday. <\/p>\n

Anchorage, which hit minus 17 Fahrenheit late Wednesday night, is experiencing its coldest temperatures in 15 years, said Brian Brettschneider, a climate scientist with the local weather service office. The forecast called for temperatures there to remain below zero through Friday before climbing into the teens by Sunday.<\/p>\n

In the small town of Kotzebue, 550 miles by air to the northwest, temperatures of minus 30 Fahrenheit and below caused heating fuel to thicken so much that home heating systems and stoves stopped working, the Anchorage Daily News reported. City Manager Tessa Baldwin told the newspaper that water lines have frozen across town.<\/p>\n

That coincided with challenges that south-central Alaska\u2019s largest utility, ENSTAR Natural Gas Co., has had with two wells at a gas storage facility that was built to address the peak winter demand. The system was \u201cthe most strained I\u2019ve seen,\u201d in large part due to gas delivery issues related to the well problems, company president John Sims told a news conference in Anchorage.<\/p>\n

Anchorage resident DuShan Vujnovic, a native of Serbia who is working for the Alaska Railroad, said this winter has been \u201ctoo much.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is Vujnovic\u2019s fifth winter in Anchorage and it\u2019s been the coldest. If that weren\u2019t bad enough, last week his job took him north to Fairbanks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never experienced anything that cold, but here I think I\u2019m mostly annoyed with the snow,\u201d he said. \u201cI drive a white car, so sometimes it\u2019s hard to even find it in the snow after two days of not leaving the house.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, parts of southeast Alaska were almost balmy by comparison, including in Ketchikan, where it was nearly 50 degrees Fahrenheit and raining Thursday. Ketchikan is closer to Seattle than it is to Anchorage. <\/p>\n

HOW ARE PEOPLE COPING?<\/p>\n

Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson last week signed an emergency declaration effective through Feb. 9 and added the warming centers, some of which are open around the clock. <\/p>\n

A man believed to have fled a fire at a home in the south-central community of Sutton was found dead early Wednesday, possibly due to exposure, Alaska State Troopers said.<\/p>\n

Anchorage sent a letter to 1,000 businesses warning them to vacate their properties until snow is removed from the rooftops. At least two commercial buildings have suffered collapses under the weight, and crews are shoveling thick layers of snow from rooftops around the city.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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\u2019t have reliable heating. To the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":395,"featured_media":10623,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","_newspack_byline_active":true,"_newspack_byline":"by [Author id=395]Mark Thiessen[\/Author] Associated Press","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"newspack_content_restriction_is_exempt":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,508],"tags":[14,505,15],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[657],"class_list":["post-10622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-top-headlines-cm","tag-granite-geek","tag-paywall","tag-science-technology","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/42840307-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/395"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10622"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10622\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10624,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10622\/revisions\/10624"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10622"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fnewspack_spnsrs_tax&post=10622"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=10622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}