From A Cooler Place…

Thanks to ABC 33/40 Skywatcher Kristie Calvin for these images… she writes:

“Hi James:

I hope you have had a wonderful summer and are staying cool! Here in the Interior of Alaska we have had a rather cool, wet summer. On rainy days, highs have been in the 50’s. On dry days, we manage to make it into the 60’s. Our lows have been ranging from the low 40’s to low 50’s.

We did have a rather warm streak last week. We hit the 80’s for three straight days. People here were complaining about the heat and wished for a quick cool down. I was included in the long line of complainers! Houses do not have air conditioners up here. So, it got rather warm, especially in the evenings.

I know fall must seem like it is eons away for you down in the Lower 48. However here in North Pole, we are starting to see the first signs of color. We have a few trees that are starting to turn yellow. Some of the ground color is starting to turn red.

Yesterday, while driving, we found a hillside covered in fireweed. Fireweed is a flowering plant that blooms from the bottom of the plant to the top. Native Alaskans have a saying that goes something like this, “When the fireweed is blooming at the top, it will be six weeks until the first snow.” Well, the fireweed bloomed at the top over two weeks ago and now all the blooms are completely gone! This did not happen last year until the first of September. I have included a picture of fireweed in bloom so you can see the comparison.

Many things are several weeks early this year. Blueberries which are usually not ready to pick until the first of September were ready almost 4 weeks ago. Raspberries were ready 3 weeks early. And, the leaves are starting to turn about 3 weeks early. Also, the low bush and high bush cranberries are almost ready to pick, which is unheard of this time of year. It will be interesting to see what this winter has in store for us!

Of course, the days are getting shorter. We are loosing almost 7 minutes of daylight each day. The sun officially rises at 5:21 a.m. and sets at 10:28 p.m. That is only 17 hours and 7 minutes of daylight, a far cry from the 22 hours we received on June 21st.

I hope you cool off very soon. If I had a way, I would ship some of our cool air to you!

God bless!”

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