If you follow weather reports you may have noticed that many of our winter cold fronts originate in the Arctic region. This would mainly be from Arctic Canada. Alaska is a little far to the west but will experience similar weather to what Canada gets with one significant exception: Much of Alaska is mountainous, as is Canada in the Rockies, but the flat terrain east of the Canadian Rockies gives weather a straight shot down to the US Midwest and Texas. Fairbanks, which is 130 miles south of the Arctic Circle, has very nice Summers and bitterly cold Winters. One contributing factor is sunlight. At this time of the year Fairbanks gets about 22 hours of daylight. That means vegetation grows, leaving the area green and beautiful. Factor in all that melted snow and you have tons of moisture helping things grow. Down our way we get shorter Summer days, plenty of sunshine, but a nighttime cooling period. Our mild Winters generally allow vegetation to rest and regenerate come Spring. The downside of the beautiful Fairbanks Summer is that it doesnt last very long. Most cities as far north as Fairbanks have to import most of their food items. The land offers some wild game for meat and there is a short growing season for vegetable crops. Texas is a better place to reside for food supplies, obviously, thanks to our much longer growing season. Most residents of both states love where they live and for many reasons. Alaska is a land of beauty and weather contrasts. Texas has its own form of beauty and definitely gets some wild weather. More of that weather than we realize originates way up north of us. Right now we get a lot of our weather systems from the oceans we are fortunate enough to be close to. Put it all together, and you have a recipe for everything from blizzards to hurricanes.
Posted on: Mon, 14 Jul 2014 17:42:53 +0000
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