Bone-chilling cold makes it feel like 88 below zero in remote Alaskan town

As temperatures rise across the West Coast, potentially breaking records across California, it's a different story farther north in Alaska. Thanks to a combination of dangerously low temperatures and bitter winds, bone-chilling weather has overtaken the Last Frontier this week.

Bettles, Alaska, located in the north-central part of the state, had a low temperature of 51 degrees below zero Fahrenheit Sunday morning, well below the average of 15 below zero F this time of year. During the day Sunday, the afternoon temperature barely peaked at 25 below zero F. Prudhoe Bay, situated on the state's northeast coast, had similar conditions with a morning low of 47 below zero and a daytime high of 27 below zero, both well below the average low of 21 below zero F.

On Monday morning, the remote northern town of Deadhorse reached 50 below zero, with gusty winds bringing the AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperature to as low as 88 below zero. Believe it or not, that's not the coldest it's ever felt in Deadhorse. A RealFeel of 101 below zero occurred on Jan. 28, 1989. (RealFeel was introduced by AccuWeather in 1997 but can be estimated using historical data). On Wednesday morning, the actual temperature slipped to 54 below zero, but RealFeel Temperatures bottomed out at 79 below zero.

Meanwhile, Nuiqsut hit an actual temperature of 53 below zero. Howard Pass, home to some of the state's most extreme weather, reported a wind chill of 91 below zero, only a few degrees away from the town's unofficial record wind chill of 100 below zero F, set in 2014. On Wednesday morning, the actual temperature bottomed out at 49 below zero with a RealFeel near 60 below zero.

Utqiagvik reached minus 30 early Monday morning, and temperatures did not get much higher throughout the day with a high of minus 25 F. This is the lowest high temperature the town has reported so far this winter.

"The intense cold is confined to the northern part of the state across the Brooks Range and the North Slope," said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dan Pydynowski.

Farther south on Tuesday, temperatures in the Fairbanks area managed to reach the average high for this time of year at 8 F. Less than 400 miles south, the city of Anchorage climbed to nearly 10 degrees above it average on Tuesday, which is in the mid-20s, largely thanks to warmer air from the ocean.

Frigid air returned to Fairbanks on Wednesday, with the high temperature only reaching 1 below zero.

"The jet stream is running through the middle of the state, with the polar vortex and Arctic air trapped over northern Alaska producing dangerous low temperatures and AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperatures that are abnormal even for one of the coldest parts of the country," said AccuWeather Meteorologist Thomas Geiger.

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"Extreme cold continued Wednesday in Utqiagvik with a high of 17 below zero which is 13 [degrees] below normal for this time of year," said Pydynowski, adding that lows will still not be anywhere near record levels.

Low-temperature records in the northernmost town of the United States are in the 40s below zero and 50s below zero this time of year, which won't be attainable, but it certainly could feel that cold.

Though wind speeds in Utqiagvik were around 10 mph on Tuesday, they dropped AccuWeather RealFeel® Temps to as low as 53 below zero, according to Pydynowski.

Temperatures in the near future are expected to remain at least 10 degrees below average for Utqiagvik, but Fairbanks could have temperatures returning to average sometime next week.

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