Heading to Warmth

23F has never felt so warm.  That is the expected temperature when I land in Newark tonight.  I am currently at the airport in Fairbanks,  I leave in 40 minutes to Anchorage.  From Anchorage, I fly to Seattle before flying home to Newark and arriving at 10:17PM.

I had to do some things differently this weekend (Especially with watching football).  Football starts at 9AM in Fairbanks.  The hotel I was staying at has a bar with NFL Sunday Ticket.  But the bar does not serve alcohol until Noon on Sundays.  The good news was I was able to watch the Redskins play the Cowboys.  The bad news was the other people watching the game with me were all Cowboys fans.  And although Rex Grossman had a good game in his Redskins debut, the ‘Skins lost to the Cowboys.  At Noon (about an hour after the sun rose here), I watched the Jets-Steelers game.  It looked cold with flurries at that game, but I couldn’t help but wonder what a game in December here in Fairbanks would be like.  With temperatures hovering between -30 and -25 and a “light” breeze (The winds were light, but when it’s this cold, you can feel the wind of a door being opened.)

I was going to venture out at 3:30, but it had already gotten dark.  And colder.  Alaskans are a hearty bunch.  They say they endure the winters here because Fairbanks is the place to be in the summer.  Temperatures are generally in the 70s and 80s and it doesn’t get dark for long.  The sun rises before 4AM and will not set until after 10PM throughout the month of July.

I can’t wait to be in above-zero weather and the nine hours of sunlight.  I might walk around town tomorrow wearing shorts and a t-shirt (at least until the reality that 30 degrees, while much warmer than the -25 currently here, is still cold.)

Global warming is definitely needed here.  A couple additional hours of sunlight wouldn’t hurt.

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