July 27, 2004
Heat wave in Barrow, Alaska
I stand in front of the Barrow welcome sign, between two jawbones taken from bowhead whales.
I am incredibly behind on filing my experiences in Alaska in Denali and Anchorage, and now I have been in Barrow, the northernmost point in the United States, for five days, and I am behind on describing this remarkable place, too!
So I will try to file 2 photos quickly, and post a story I wrote for this week's Arctic Sounder, the local paper. It follows below.
Barrow basks in ‘heat wave’
Friday sets record of 70 degrees
By Jeannette Belliveau
Arctic Sounder
A sailboat bobs at anchor, “coconut palms” sway under a limitless azure sky and families in shorts and T-shirts hold beach barbeques and wade in crystalline water.
The images may conjure up the French Riviera.
But this was the remarkable scene in Barrow -- where the “palm trees” are actually made of Arctic driftwood with baleen fronds -- as a heat wave of sorts began Thursday, July 22, when the mercury hit 60 degrees, and continued through the weekend.
Friday was hotter still, setting an all-time mark of 70 degrees. For once, Barrow set a record for heat rather than cold.
It was the warmest July 23 since 1920, when the Department of Agriculture meteorologists began keeping records for Barrow. The previous record of 69 was set in 1981.
Saturday reached 61, and Sunday’s 66 degrees brought droves of families to the beach for wading. Monday, the mercury hit 67.
The average monthly high for July is 46.5 degrees, according to Dave Stricklan of the National Weather Service office in Barrow. Prior to the heat wave, most daily highs in July had ranged from the mid-40s to the mid-50s.
Stricklan personally fielded nearly 10 calls an hour during the fine weather as local boaters called him directly. The meteorologist answered their questions about the forecast, the wind (a gentle five- to 10-knot easterly) and visibility (unlimited on Saturday).
“People call for info,” Stricklan said. “I don’t think they’d appreciate a recording up here, and it’s nice to talk to them. People are going out in boats hunting. If we have good weather, they want to know when it’s going to change.”
Many residents fired up their outboards and set off for seal and walrus on the ice floes about two miles offshore, passing a small white yacht bearing a couple from Australia en route to Nome. Other folks strapped on rifles and hopped into their four-wheelers to seek duck and caribou on the tundra.
Two students from Ipalook Elementary School, Faith Tyson, 9, and Taryn McKenzie, 10, clambered in T-shirts on the struts supporting the bridge between Tasigarook and Isatkoak lagoons.
“It’s over 60 degrees, and I’m burning up,” Taryn said. “When it’s really nice, we don’t wear sweaters.”
Tourists who had traveled hundreds of miles to experience the Arctic North seem both perplexed and delighted. It was the kind of weather for which most people travel to Florida in the winter, except more comfortable, with low humidity.
“I thought we’d have snow on the ground,” said Dorothy Manns of Airville, Pa., Thursday, waiting beside the Tundra Tours bus outside the Top of the World Hotel.
“We picked the best day,” added Glady Miller of Lakewood, Wash. “It”s just gorgeous now.”
At the Inupiat Heritage Center, the next stop for the tourists, the faces of the performers in the Barrow Native Dance Club shone lightly with perspiration. “Whew, it’s hot,” one commented after enacting a walrus kill and other routines.
By day three of the heat wave, Saturday, most of the town was talking about the weather.
“I love it,” said Alice Brower, born and raised in Barrow and an assistant logistics coordinator at the Barrow Arctic Science Consortium. “When I was a little kid, the weather used to be good. I’d go out and play every day and didn’t know when to go home because it was always lit. For the last four or five years, it’s been dark and cruddy” in the summer.
“Everyone in town has been enjoying it, going out and boating,” Brower added. “A lot of people got their fishnets out and are going rod-and-reeling.”
Residents who had moved to the northernmost point in Alaska precisely because it was cold held a different view.
“It’s horrible,” said Helen Barton, who has been coming to Barrow for 11 summers to house sit and pet sit, leaving behind Binghamton, N.Y. “I wish it was cold with 20 feet of ice. The colder the better. I can’t stand hot weather.”
“It’s too hot,” agreed Dottie Riquier, originally from Massachusetts, as she stood outside the Tuzzy Library. “You don’t move here unless you like it cold -- cold and windy.”
As Mike Stotts, born and raised in Barrow, pumped gas into his truck, he chatted to an acquaintance. “It’s beautiful, I feel like doing nothing. It’s hard to believe that in 120 days it’ll be pitch black and 50 below zero. This is unbelievable.”
On day four of the heat wave, Sarah Nicely, strolling on the beach Sunday afternoon with her family, said, “I’ve lived here since ’83, and it’s amazing. It’s wonderful, beautiful weather.”
On a bluff near the airport runway, Bunna Edwardson of Arctic Adventures led a group of tourists in spotting a quartet of gray whales, spouting and sounding offshore.
“It’s too hot,” he said. “I’m gonna jump in (the sea) later. It’s a scorcher.”
Meteorologist Stricklan confirmed that some previous years have been quite a bit danker. In July 2000, it rained almost every day. In July 2003, “only two days was it not overcast.”
The reason for the beautiful days this July? “We’ve got a weak high pressure system over us,” Stricklan said ... in other words, the “lack of a weather system” brought wonderful weather.
Or “a scorcher,” depending on your point of view.
Dear Jeannette,
Are there volcanoes in Alaska?
Are there whales in Alaska?
Are there computer games in Alaska?
What are good games and sports in Alaska?
Love Chris
What kind of graphics is the paper cranking out?
Are there any links to an online paper?