Alaska

Alaska Sees Coldest December In Years | Weather.com

Published

2 months ago

January 4, 2026

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Alaska Sees Coldest December In Years | Weather.com

2 Feet Of Snow Traps Drivers In Michigan

Do you think that Alaska is cold during winter? Of course it is! However, the type of cold the state is experiencing right now if unprecedented. How about having consecutive days of temperatures colder than 40 degrees below zero!

This is true for much of the Alaskan interior, particularly near Fairbanks and in between the Alaska and Brooks mountain ranges.

Over the last four days in Fairbanks, temperatures have struggled to reach 40 degrees below zero, with organizers in Fairbanks even postponing their annual New Year’s Eve fireworks show due to the extreme cold.

The temperature in the final few minutes of 2025 in Fairbanks was 43 degrees below zero.

In other words, conditions are unbearably and dangerously cold, even by local standards in Central Alaska.

In Chicken, Alaska, located near the Canadian Border, temperatures dropped as low as 62 degrees below zero! Numerous other locations in the eastern Alaskan Interior have seen temperatures between 50 and 60 degrees below zero.

On top of bringing dangerously cold minimum temperatures, this most recent cold snap has also been more prolonged than usual.

Temperatures in much of Alaska have been largely colder than usual since roughly December 5th, 2025

Some regions in eastern Alaska and the neighboring Yukon Territory in Canada have seen combined December temperatures up to 30 degrees below the climatological average.

For reference, the average December temperature in Fairbanks from 1904 to 2025 is 22 degrees below zero with much of central Alaska having similarly cold December temperatures on average. The city has seen a temperature departure of 18.5 degrees below average for December 2025, ranking as the 8th coldest December on record.

This means that much of east-central Alaska has been stuck between 40 and 50 degrees below for nearly an entire month!

While many factors affect the severity of winters in Alaska, one notable statistic is the unusually high snowfall in portions of Alaska this past December. Fairbanks saw more than double its usual snowfall for the month of December.

Juneau, Alaska’s capital, located in far-southeast Alaska, has seen nearly its entire annual snowfall in December alone, at over 80 inches.

Snowfall promotes cold temperatures by reflecting light from the sun back to space. In Alaska, there is already very little sunlight during the winter due to its positioning on and near the Arctic Circle.

What little sunlight snow-covered portions of Alaska have seen has been quickly reflected back to space by the unusually heavy snowpack.

In Central Alaska, located between the Alaska and Brooks ranges, the heavy snowpack, lack of sunlight, and lack of transport of air from warmer locations have led to the development of an arctic high pressure system, leading to stable conditions and light winds. These conditions cause the land to rapidly lose heat, becoming even colder. With this arctic high pressure is in place, central Alaska has remained cold. However, a slight breakdown in the strength of the high will allow temperatures to warm somewhat (see forecast for next 3 days below).

Fortunately, this pattern will break down as we approach mid-January. A more active storm track from the Pacific is poised to bring wetter and warmer conditions to portions of Alaska, especially towards the middle to second half of the month. While this wetter pattern means snow for most, temperatures will improve, being far more bearable than the current temperatures in the 40 to 50 degree below zero range.

Hayden Marshall is a meteorologist intern and First-Year-Master’s Student at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He has been following weather content over the past three years as a Storm Spotter and weather enthusiast. He can be found on Instagram and Linkedin.

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Alaska

Musician performs under the aurora in Nenana — without gloves, in 17 degrees

Published

5 hours ago

February 28, 2026

Press Room

Musician performs under the aurora in Nenana — without gloves, in 17 degrees

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – A musician with Alaska Native roots recorded an hour-long live set in Interior Alaska beneath the aurora.

Chastity Ashley, a drummer, vocalist and DJ who performs under the name Neon Pony, celebrated a year since she traveled to Nenana to record a live music set beneath the northern lights for her series Beats and Hidden Retreats.

Ashley, who has Indigenous roots in New Mexico, said she was drawn to Alaska in part because of the role drums play in Alaska Native culture. A handmade Alaskan hand drum, brought to her by a man from just outside Anchorage, was incorporated into the performance in February 2025.

Recording in the cold

The team spent eight days in Nenana waiting for the aurora to appear. Ashley said the lights did not come out until around 4 a.m., and she performed a continuous, uninterrupted hour-long set in 17-degree weather without gloves.

“It was freezing. I couldn’t wear gloves because I’m actually playing, yeah, hand drums and holding drumsticks. And there was ice underneath my feet,” Ashley said.

“So, I had to really utilize my balance and my willpower and my ability to just really immerse in the music and let go and make it about the celebration of what I was doing as opposed to worrying about all the other elements or what could go wrong.”

She said she performed in a leotard to allow full range of motion while drumming, DJing and singing.

Filming on Nenana tribal land

Ashley said she did not initially know the filming location was on indigenous land. After local authorities told her the decision was not theirs to make, she contacted the Nenana tribe directly for permission.

“I went into it kind of starting to tell them who I was and that I too was a part of a native background,” Ashley said. “And they just did not even care. They’re like, listen, we’re about to have a party for one of our friends here. Go and do what you like.”

Ashley said the tribe gave her full permission to film on the reservation, and that the aurora footage seen in the episode was captured there.

Seeing the aurora for the first time

Ashley said the Nenana performance marked her first time seeing the northern lights in person.

“It felt as if I were awake in a dream,” she said. “It really doesn’t seem real.”

She said she felt humbled and blessed to perform beneath the aurora and to celebrate its beauty and grandeur through her music.

“I feel incredibly humbled and blessed that not only did I get to take part in seeing something like that, but to play underneath it and celebrate its beauty and its grandeur.”

The Alaska episode is the second installment of Beats and Hidden Retreats, which is available on YouTube at @NeonPony. Ashley said two additional episodes are in production and she hopes to make it back up to Alaska in the future.

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Alaska

Over $150K worth of drugs seized from man in Juneau, police say

Published

17 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

Over 0K worth of drugs seized from man in Juneau, police say

JUNEAU, Alaska (KTUU) – An Alaska drug task force seized roughly $162,000 worth of controlled substances during an operation in Juneau Thursday, according to the Juneau Police Department.

Around 3 p.m. Thursday, investigators with the Southeast Alaska Cities Against Drugs (SEACAD) approached 50-year-old Juneau resident Jermiah Pond in the Nugget Mall parking lot while he was sitting in his car, according to JPD.

A probation search of the car revealed a container holding about 7.3 gross grams of a substance that tested presumptively positive for methamphetamine, as well as about 1.21 gross grams of a substance that tested presumptively positive for fentanyl.

As part of the investigation, investigators executed a search warrant at Pond’s residence, during which they found about 46.63 gross grams of ketamine, 293.56 gross grams of fentanyl, 25.84 gross grams of methamphetamine and 25.5 gross grams of MDMA.

In all, it amounted to just less than a pound of drugs worth $162,500.

Investigators also seized $102,640 in cash and multiple recreational vehicles believed to be associated with the investigation.

Pond was lodged on charges of second-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance, two counts of third-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance, five counts of fourth-degree misconduct involving a substance and an outstanding felony probation warrant.

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Alaska

Sand Point teen found 3 days after going missing in lake

Published

1 day ago

February 27, 2026

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Sand Point teen found 3 days after going missing in lake

SAND POINT, Alaska (KTUU) – A teenage boy who was last seen Monday when the canoe he was in tipped over has been found by a dive team in a lake near Sand Point, according to a person familiar with the situation.

Alaska’s News Source confirmed with the person, who is close to the search efforts, that the dive team found 15-year-old Kaipo Kaminanga deceased Thursday in Red Cove Lake, located a short drive from the town of Sand Point on the Aleutian Island chain.

Kaminanga was last seen canoeing with three other friends on Monday when the boat tipped over.

A search and rescue operation ensued shortly after.

Alaska Dive Search Rescue and Recovery Team posted on Facebook Thursday night that they were able to “locate and recover” Kaminanga at around 5 p.m. Thursday.

“We are glad we could bring closure to his family, friends and community,” the post said.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated when more details become available.

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