Record Cold Keeps Alaska Frozen Stiff

Alaska’s cold wave has tamed everything from soldiers to jet fighters, while making life a torment for residents trying to come to grips with frozen pipes.

In the largest winter war games ever in Alaska, called Brim Frost ‘89, the 65-below-zero cold was winning the battle, sending 26,000 troops from the United States and Canada into retreat.

And late Sunday, a military transport plane carrying 18 Canadian special forces soldiers to the exercises crashed at Fort Wainwright near Fairbanks, killing at least 9, authorities said. It was not known immediately if the cold weather contributed to the crash of the C-130 Hercules, but emergency vehicles speeding to the wreckage were hampered by the cold and icy fog.

Soldiers have suffered frostbite, equipment has failed, jet fighters have been grounded by ice fog and a major Air Force runway buckled because of the cold.

And, on the home front, firefighters called out to battle several blazes Sunday in Anchorage had frozen pumps on their trucks. “Most of our fires are being caused by people trying to thaw pipes,” a spokeswoman said.

“You can’t get a plumber for the price of gold,” said veterinarian Joyce Murphy, who was trying to thaw pipes in her home. “You can’t find one.”

Chuck Renfro, owner of Curtis Plumbing & Heating in Eagle River, said he has been getting 150 calls a day since the cold snap started a week ago. “This is some kind of record for us,” he said.

Flights Canceled

Refueling of aircraft at Anchorage International Airport was slowed during the weekend by frigid temperatures and balky hydraulic systems. Several freight flights were canceled and 270 passengers aboard a Northwest Airlines flight from Chicago to Tokyo were stranded; after landing in Anchorage to refuel, one of the engines jammed, officials said.

The extreme cold can congeal lubricants in differentials and transmissions, freeze tires and freeze coolant in radiators.

Anchorage police said they rushed to answer calls about stalled vehicles. “It’s too cold to be left sitting in a car,” a spokeswoman said.

A list of cold-related problems released by state emergency services officials included dwindling fuel supplies, congealed heating fuel, frozen water and sewer lines and non-delivery of checks and federal food stamps.

Telephone communications with Akhiok, Buckland, Eek, Kongingig, Port Moller, Selawik and Whittier were cut off because the communities’ diesel-powered generators were out of fuel or out of order, Alascom spokesman Tom Jensen said.

Communications with about 30 other communities were impaired, Jensen said.

The American Red Cross opened a shelter Sunday for Anchorage families with frozen pipes and no heat, while the National Guard prepared to air-drop food and fuel to towns cut off by the cold’s frozen-tight grip on virtually all of Alaska.

Various school districts also opened their buildings to people in need of shelter.

And, naturally, cold is the single topic of conversation in Alaska. When people talk about the cold, they no longer say “below zero” or “minus.” That’s taken for granted.

For example, Fairbanks forecaster Brian Lynn said in an interview Sunday: “The coldest today was 63 at McGrath, and there are lots of people in the 40s and 50s. But the west coast warmed up to the teens and 20s.”

As an afterthought, Lynn said: “That’s all below zero, of course.”

Warming Up a Few Degrees

However, it appeared to be warming up a few degrees in some parts of Alaska’s interior, said meteorologist Pat Poole of the National Weather Service.

“In some places, you’re talking 10 degrees warmer; it’s like 50 below,” he said. “But every 10 degrees is important.

“There’s a new high-pressure area that’s moving down across the northern Siberian coast,” Poole said. “It’ll be coming in over Alaska in the next few days. I’m sure it’s going to be pretty cold.”

McGrath, a community 150 miles west of Mt. McKinley, was the state’s coldest spot early Sunday, with the temperature plummeting to minus 64. In Anchorage, it was minus 30, the coldest January day since 1975, the weather service reported.

Records were set at Tatalina, minus 51; Kodiak, minus 15; Healy, minus 52, and Homer, minus 24. Fairbanks reported 47 below and Prudhoe Bay on the Arctic Ocean minus 51.

The wind-chill factor at Cantwell was minus 125, making the heavily traveled Parks Highway between Fairbanks and Wasilla unsafe because of the threat the cold could make cars break down and strand motorists without heat, state troopers said.

In Bethel, the Kuskokwim 300 Sled Dog Race scheduled to start this Thursday was postponed until at least next Monday by the cold, the first such delay in the race’s 10-year history.