unbelievable at 60

Yesterday was a rare day, indeed, as Juneauites experienced something that doesn't come along very often. Heck, never! We were giddy with excitement. We were calling each other on the phone, talking about it. It started early in the morning, which, in itself, is a miracle. We enjoyed it all day long. We took off our sweatshirts and vests. We had the doors open. We were outside, in our short sleeves, enjoying the heat wave! Yes, a heat wave in Juneau, Alaska, in the middle of winter! Never mind that just a week ago, it was -8 degrees and then a week of snow. Yesterday was unbelievable. We don't generally experience this warm weather in the summer months! And to wake up and have it almost 60 degrees out, was just short of some kind of miracle. Global warming, I suppose :O

Juneau is a cold place. Even in the summer months, we don't experience very warm weather, or very many warm days. One of my secret desires, is to some day live in a place where I can wake up, get my cup of coffee, and go out on the porch and sit in my jammies and enjoy the morning. And be warm. You can't do that here. Well, you can, but it wouldn't be enjoyable in 40 degrees. So the fact that we had temps in the 50's and near 60 yesterday was one of those "once in a life time" events, I'm sure. They said it was Chinook Winds. I never knew we had Chinook Winds. Chinook salmon, yes, but not winds!

Chinooks warm Juneau
Chinook winds flowed in to Juneau over the weekend creating unseasonably high temperatures. Sunday's high reached 53 which surpassed the previous high for the date of 52 set in 1981. It reached 48 for a high Saturday, which was only one degree off from the all time high for the date of 49 established in 1965. The thermometer at the studios of KINY and KSUP downtown were crowding 60 degrees Sunday morning. Meteorologist Corey Van Pelt in the Juneau Forecast Office says the Chinooks are part of an overall large scale pattern shift where warm air is coming from the south and the cold air that hung around for about a month was shoved into the Lower 48.

So I'm sorry that our winds sent the cold air down south, but what's a girl to do. We loved it! We were so busy outside, working wherever there wasn't snow piled. My husband even washed the windows. Outside. In the middle of winter! Woo hoo!