Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Extreme temps at Eielson AFB

I've searched all over for the temp extremes "cold weather" at Eielson in the last 25 years. I seriously doubt that it has reached -65deg below zero or in that range for an extended time.
Any help please.

From a Lib foreigner on the "other" forum.

"Quote"Unfortunately, yes. It was -75 below when I went through Arctic Survival School. Bunnys and squirrels are yummy, and Hog Hutts are only for survival. Only...

The record coldest was in Jauary of this year, at -65F.

https://www.weatherbase.com/weather/weather-summary.php3?s=41805&cityname=Eielson+Air+Force+Base,+Alaska,+United+States+of+America

On rereading The link it may not have been this past January, but rather it happened in the month of January.

Yeah, it appears one day in Jan it hit that temp.

when some one says it was "negative _____ below", you can almost bet they are stretching it.
It is either negative.... OR below..... not both.

https://www.eielson.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/383770/weather-unique-to-interior-alaska/

This says -64 in January of 1971. I was stationed there then.

that makes my teeth hurt, just thinking about it

Probably not the coldest it's been- just the "official" coldest.

A few years back when I went to my remote cabin in July, the folks in Manley were still talking about the previous winter. They had buildings freezing up that had never frozen up, and were claiming in low to mid -70's for several days running. From multiple "common" thermometers - not official recording weather service ones.

I believe them.

I delivered the Daily News Miner in 1955 and it seems that the lowest temp was -56deg. That was on Ladd AFB.

It was colder then!

Art, I will always remember that day delivering the papers in that cold. I did both the officers and enlisted men's trailer parks on base. I was 12yrs old and had an old Army surplus parka that was down to my ankles, long johns, and Sears Roebuck jeans. I needed to pee and my business wouldn't make it all the way out of all my clothes. Needless to say I finished my deliveries with cold and frozen jeans.

Arctic Panic... 6" of clothes and just 3" to get it done...

I think the coldest I've been in was January 2000. It was -67 F according to the AWOS at the Tanana airport. Which wasn't such a big deal in itself, but the cold snap that brought it lasted for about 3 weeks eventually starting to overpower heating systems that weren't burning wood.

My first exposure to real sustained cold was during the Brim Frost '89 joint exercise. I was attached to another unit which was camped out in the hills north of Eielson AFB. Night time temps got down to about -55 F and come up above (slightly) -40 F during the day. At least we were above the ice fog. The poor bastards that were down on the Flats along the Tanana River got the worst of it. Their lows were around -70 F unofficially and I doubt they climbed much higher than that during the day. Plus they were enveloped in ice fog. That schitt takes on the flavor of car exhaust, woodsmoke and diesel/heating oil exhaust after a while and you can taste it just by breathing through your mouth. We came back in from the field a couple of weeks later, and I recall how "warm" -20 F felt.

Mr Lambert When I worked in north central Canada in early 1950's we had -70 for almost 3 weeks with warming to -55 in the day. also replaced 9 engines in the trucks for the 90 days we were in the "woods" Cheers NC

I'll bet that it was a real picnic. I worked on cars and light trucks in Anchorage but our shops were warm. We did keep an old oil drain pan with charcoal in it to warm the oil pans so we could start them. Found out that you didn't do it on an oil leaker!

A few weeks before I arrived at Eielson AFB they had temps in the -65 range.

Eielson has definitely had -65F a time or two. Up until 2 months ago, I could have pulled all the climo data you wanted or needed for there. Though I'm no longer a forecaster, I am a GS employee again. Once I get my work internet account set up, I'll see if I can still access it.

-50's to -60's in January 1989 for just shy of a month.

Balmy w/ 12 foot of snow in 1990.

A few days of -40 in the interior these days & the tree hugger's are whining !

. . . . but, it's a "dry" cold.

The record at Rogers Pass, MT was -70. The only problem was the thermometer would only go to -70 so it was thought the termp was actually colder. I do believe that was in the 50s, but then we had more hot temps in the summer back then too.

Thanks, I would love to see what you may turn up.

There is enough variability in relatively small spaces to leave a lot of room for different temperature claims. In Anchorage the difference between Muldoon and the airport is often over 10F.

There was two people whose job was to move vehicles when not in use to keep them use-able, more than 3 hours you could wear the tires off towing but they would not move on their own, trans. and rear rend froze up solid.. Cheers NC

I had friends tbat li ed on Badger Rd in North Pole, a notorious cold spot. It was not unusual for them to be able to drop down to the Chena River behind their house and it be 20 degrees colder than the house thermometer. Vertical difference of perhaps 15'.

I lived in North Pole for awhile when we were stationed at Eielson. The coldest day I remember was -63F. To the best of my memory this was in Jan or Feb 1979.
-50 to -55 was pretty common during the winter.

I lived off of Badger (Lakloey Dr) and you're exactly right, we lived at the bottom of the hill and it could be as much as 15 degrees warmer on top. We saw -30 to -40 quite a few times when we lived there.

I remember hearing about Brimfrost '89. I was at FT Greely June '86 to June '88, so got out before that exercise. Coldest I remember on main post was around -55 to -60 F, but the test facility at Bolio Lake was often 5 to 15 degrees colder, I believe they've broken -70 F.

Alaska is a small town

Alaska is a small town

okay, we got it the first time!

Just checking.

Now I realize all the members on the 'fire' are upstanding citizens, men of the most honorable mention, but talking about these kinds of temps without at least putting a smiley face on the post is very misleading or a poor attempt at a joke.

I very well remember, back in the 70's, when the government and other groups said that because of global warming, cities like NYC, New Orleans, LA, and many others would be under water, because of the melting polar ice caps. I remember looking at a map that showed where the shore line would be in 2020, and I was gonna have some 'beach front property'.

So in conclusion, you gentlemen must be mistaken or attempting to make a joke, cause I'm still looking forward to my beach front property in a few months.

(I cant even imagine what it would be like at the temps yall are talking about. It dont get that cold in Louisiana)

i was out on the flats , on the advance party ...it was no fing party,batailon/ HQ said the temps over the pick77 ...same temp below...suckedazz...

Oh yeh....later when we got back on ft ww that 20below an sunny sure felt good ..then my can of beer frose to my stash...darn it !

Most folks that haven't experienced it don't realize that cold sinks down to the lowest level. I've stood out on the Yukon River on totally windless days and you can feel the cold moving downriver. I live at the base of a mountain out here in Aleutian Hell, and when we get a cold snap here where it's clear an cold, you can feel the cold air currents tumbling down off the mountain. Under those conditions the coldest location on my vehicle thermometer is on a bridge crossing a creek coming out of the small valley surrounded by those mountains that spills into the cove a few hundred yards downstream.





We had a platoon down on flats manning static check points and TCPs. I didn't envy them in the least. It didn't help that their fuel and water supplies were inconsistent. At least we were well supplied with fuel and water, and we even had a mess tent that served us hot meals.

I gained a new respect for military cold-weather gear. I never got cold wearing it. I never cared too much for bunny boots, but they DO keep your feet warm. These days I've collected several pairs of trigger-finger mittens and liners, arctic mittens , and a few pairs of the newer mutant mitts by OR. I also have a pile of the white wool cold weather socks. Had a wake up call on a December trip up there a couple years ago reminding me of what real cold is all about. My cold-wet weather gear didn't do much for me and like an idiot, I left my beaver hat down here.

When I was stationed at Eielson 89-92, there were a few days below -60*F.

When I went to arctic survival school in ‘89 (?) I tried to game the system and go in October, thinking I’d be warmer.

Temp was -42*F the night we slept in our snow caves.

Inside, it was +27*F according to the thermometer I had hanging from the “roof.”

I'm still waiting on my internet account to be setup since I'm a new civilian employee. I'll let you know though as soon as I get my account.

And TX heat is a 'wet' heat. LOL

Badger rd in 1971. Partied with friends there. His and 3 neighbors had the mercury type thermometer. The ball at the bottom of 80 below was where all the mercury was. At the same time on Chena Hot Springs rd. It was only 60 below. Other areas around Fairbanks were a lot warmer also. Ed k

My first winter in Alaska - 68/69 in Fairbanks - the first two weeks of January averaged 53 below, never getting higher than -42, I think, nights dipping into the -60s. It warmed up to -35 one day at the end and started snowing, or at least ice crystals fell.

I spent the same winter in Anchorage at Elmendorf AFB. Brisk for sure for a country boy from Alabama.

Huge at monthly average, July 65. Degrees. Lowest monthly average January is -7 degrees. Most average precipitation January 8.3 inches. Air quality 26 percent better than national average. Pollution index is 14% better than national average! That said I observed -54 degrees in North Pole Alaske! That's not far from Eielson.

I remember that cold snap well, the temp at Freddies on Airport way in Fbks was showing -65*. I think that reading was accurate.
Ungodly cold.
During that snap I met a fella walking down the street with his wife. He was in a windbreaker and ball cap, she was parka'd out. I had to stop and ask him how he dealt with the cold so woefully under-dressed, he explained that he was full blooded Eskimo and it simply didn't bother him. His wife was from the lower 48 and like the rest of us needed max cold weather gear.

I lived in North Pole/Eielson from 95-99 and then again between 2002 and 2010 with a few stints living in Delta Junction. It’s true that the temps fluctuate a bunch just a few miles this way or that way in the interior. Some low spots are always colder, I could leave North Pole at 5 am to go to work in Delta and it might be 45 below and I would hit spots along the Richardson where my windshield would start frosting up and I could feel the heat not feeling as warm and look at the outside temp gauge in the truck and it would rear error and then a few miles latter suddenly go back to reading -48 and the windshield would start thawing again. North Pole had some holes like on Plack Road where it could easily be 15 deg colder than in town. I’ve heard stories and testimonials too many time to count where sub -70 was reported in different parts of the interior but I don’t think most people even had accurate enough thermometers to know for sure. I can attest to it being a cold son of a bitch anytime it got below -50 it didn’t matter anymore!

I was at B Battery (Site Summit) on the hill outside of Anchorage/Ft. Richardson. On a still night with no wind we could get a temperature inversion and it would actually be warmer at 4000 feet than down in Anchorage. The problem is we had very few nights where we had no wind. -35 was common. -40 every so often. With the wind chill factor we could go -75 pretty easy. (December 31, 1974) We did not get as cold as the interior in a head to head low but we could beat the snot out of a wind chill factor 2000 feet above the tree line. That really sucked if it was your night to walk around a missile section.

kwg

We had a rookie sign in to our office at Eielson in January. About a week after he arrived it hit -55F. We convinced him to walk outside with a hot cup of coffee and toss it in the air. Kapoof, the coffee disappeared. Fun trick.

Butch, I got internet access finally last week, but now to access any AF Weather sites you have to have accounts. Since I am no longer in the weather career field, I can't get access now. Sorry about that.

My favorite cousin was weather in the Air Force, did the civilian thing on ship for several years and then retired from the weather service in Oklahoma City.
A great job for him.