Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Coldest?

What is the coldest temperature you ever experienced in Alaska? For me it was -63F when we lived in North Pole. To the best of my memory it was the winter of 79/80. I do remember trying to start my Ford truck and the fan belt shattered into a hundred pieces or so. Tried to change it but my eye lids froze shut. Ended up going back inside and waiting a day or so until it warmed up to -40.

Fairbanks, Ladd AFB, in about 1955. 56 below and I delivered the Daily News Miner in the 2 trailer parks on base.

56 degrees below January first mid 1980's Lake Louise.

-62F in Ambler,Alaska in 1996 with constant 40mph wind from north. Windchill was -110f. It was cold enough to kill caribou. Completely, 100% miserable.

The coldest I ever had, was about -22 in Fairbanks when I had to change a water pump on my Hilux outside.

I remember that winter, first one for me.

I had to drive my 69 ranchero to NP.

Power steering hose was broken and the door gasket was so stiff I couldn't get the door to latch.

Drove outside mid 80s with my wife and son, January, tried to spend the night in teslin, it was too cold to stop and sleep in the van, had to keep driving.

Thinking it was colder than -60.

Sourdough, AK, 1969 on a caribou hunt we saw -64... I froze a toe that trip, which makes it memorable, but I have probably seen colder.

Or maybe it was standing next to the ex in court...

colder than -64 is friggin cold.

Late 60's, early 70's Fairbanks. -65 or so. Winter of 69 I think, the first 15 days of January AVERAGED 53 below. Warmed up to -35 and started snowing.

Pt Hope, early 70s. -50 with 50 mph wind.

Looked out the school window and there was a little kid maybe 8 years old, clinging to the flag pole, looking up to see if the flag was up, indicating school that day. It was not.

Some of their home lives were that bad.

-68 Tok, Jan 2005 (according to a sign - probably not super accurate ).

Driving to the lower 48 in my F-150. Cardboard in the grill, scraping frost from the inside with a credit card. Lost rear t-case seal just before Beaver Creek. Serpentine belt flapping out of Haines Junction.

Limped into Haines for the ferry at 9am.

-48 at Ft Wainwright circa late 90’s, had to hang out on the flight line waiting for a fuel truck for over an hour… military cold weather gear then sucked.

Well wasn't in Alaska but years ago crossing I80 in Nebraska it hit -65*. Froze up both fuel tanks and mechanic came out from Ogallala with equipment to thaw both tanks. Was a Freightliner with two 150gal tanks and each tank had a can of jet deicing fuel in them. According to the radio temp on Chicago that night hit -103*. In the service my last assignment was at Lakeside, Montana. Don't recall how cold it would get up there but my son was born on Dec 5, 1972 in Kalispell and the night he was born it was -20* outside!

Negative 54 in North Pole 2004 I think.

The coldest I've been was caribou hunting, via snow machine. The temperature in Cantwell was -33, when we started towards Alpine Creek Lodge. The wind was blowing so badly, it was warmer to stay on the machine and try to match the windspeed ripping down the Denali Hwy. If we did it right, we didn't really feel the wind until we stopped.

We saw a small group of caribou on our way to the lodge. We stopped and got setup. My brother was with me, and he'd never shot a big game animal. I told him that he could shoot whenever he was ready, and I'd take whatever was left. After several minutes, I looked over at him and asked, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" He replied, "It's too damned cold to deal with this. Let's just get to the lodge."

We ended up taking a caribou on our way out, a couple days later, when it warmed up to 13-below.

Lived and worked year round for 2 years at Old Faithful YNP saw -50 F several times the 40 mile ride to West Yellowstone by late 80,s snowmachine was brutal no handwarmers used my elbows several times. Dodging the bison that took over the roads at night when the tourists were gone was rather sporting going past them as they tried to hook you! Dont enjoy the brutal cold any more!

I don't recall the year, but it was a cold one in Fairbanks.

At my place in North Pole.

Seen mine bottom out at 60 many a times back in the late 80s.. 50 blow this past winter for 3 days , that's a real eye-opener for what was and has been...

I've never been around in deep winter. Other things in my life at those times. Expect to in the future though. So -33 is the coldest temp. Which is the wind chill of the coldest I"ve seen in TX. -33 wind chill.

OTOH Sunday in TX it was 102. Yesterday it was 100. Today it was 101. I've taken off all the clothes I can. I'm still sweating. Keeping the house here at something comfortable like 60 or so when its that hot is not feasible or affordable and when you walk out its really miserable... Wind will be North at 4am so I'm ready for this bull hockey heat to go away.

The coldest I saw was 58below at Prudhoe Bay in 1985 - that's ambient - it was dead calm so no wind chill. I saw 100mph winds a couple of years later in Winter in the late '80s.... no telling what the wind chill factor was. Wind was so strong it blew roof panels off the modules and you could see the stars above. Thank God we never lost the fired heaters or else we would have been really f****d.

I've been in a tent in 110 mph gusts... thankfully it was a bit above freezing.