With all the excitement over Winter this year, writers of Just South of North have done their collective best to provide our take on a number of different winter issues, including driving, survival, and surefire signs of winter frustration (excellent, Brandon.) One of the funny things I noticed before contributing to JSON was the "Random Fact of the Week" talking about Snag, Yukon. True enough, Snag is home to what was the coldest recorded temperature in North America. Those who have been in that area are all too familiar with such wild weather.
Well folks, I've been to Snag, YT. Having been there in the summer, I'll be the first to say that I haven't experienced -80 F. temperatures, thank God. In light of this, I felt the need to discuss the area a bit - because its quite far north, and quite unlike what most of us are used to - and through that, hopefully allow our readers to keep our present winter troubles in perspective.
The town of Snag, (if you consider 10 people, airport staff and a meteorologist a town, of course), rests very close to the international border between Alaska and Yukon. The area in which the town resides has been inhabited by First Nation tribes for generations, and most of the population in this area is still First Nation. However, white settlers did dabble a bit in the area during the Klondike Gold Rush of 1898 to about 1906. According to some traditions, the town got its name from the Army Corps of Engineers during the construction of the Alaska-Canada (AlCan) Highway during World War 2. This area was uncharted when the highway was being built, and the Army Corps had a tremendously difficult time plotting where the highway should be built - thus, it served as a "Snag" for them. However, there was an airport here prior to the construction of the highway which was used as part of the war time Northwest Staging Route, making the story slightly suspect of inaccuracy. All tradition aside, Snag is on the southern end of what many experts consider to be the coldest pocket in the North American continent. Other towns that fall within this pocket are Chicken and Northway, AK. This pocket stretches from Tok, Alaska to Beaver Creek, YT - roughly 200 miles or so. The Wrangell-St. Elias and Mentasta Mountain ranges do a good job of really tucking this area away from warm, moist air movements in the winter time, and typical winter temperatures fall within the -40 to -60 degree range. Bearing in mind that this area is much farther north than probably most of our readers, remember that the sun doesn't come out quite as often in the winter, based on the rotation of the earth. This leaves us with a really dark, really cold, stretch of land. Those who live in this area have to keep their vehicles warm by using block heaters. Many residents prefer dog sled teams, which believe it or not, are more efficient to use, because they can use them on iced-over riverbeds (including the White and Tanana Rivers).
It's places like Tok, Beaver Creek, and Snag that always allow me to keep rough winters in Washington in perspective. While Spokane, Seattle, and Olympia have gotten unusual winters so far and certainly have been hampered, let's be thankful that it isn't 40 degree below zero and dark. Not to mention the fact that we don't have as many moose to dodge!
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