OUR ALASKA WINTER WEATHER SPECIAL TO RE-AIR CHRISTMAS NIGHT AT 9:30 PM
If you've ever wondered about the hearty folks who take on one of the most challenging winter weather regimes in one of the most stunning arctic regions on this planet, you'll have a chance to meet some of them when we re-air our "Alaska: Where Winters are Really Winter" special this Saturday night (Christmas night, Dec. 25) at 9:30 pm (CST)--in the back half of our Nine O' Clock News program. We shot the program last January. What an incredible experience it was for Pam Grimes, videographer Kevin Myers and yours truly!
Our webmaster, Amy Mowery, is including a link here which will take you to a series of photos from the program. This was a project I'd always hoped to do. I first visited Alaska in 1980 and in my many trips back since then, I've always appreciated the way Alaskans approach the winter season. We focus on that in our program and visit with a number of folks who have moved from the Midwest to Alaska and love that incredible land--even in winter!
We were treated to an incredible northern lights display, which we share with you during the program as well as a discussion on aurora borealis with a University of Alaska geophysicist. We also spend time at Alaska's incredible Ice Hotel 70 miles northeast of Fairbanks in the heart of the state's Interior. It--and all of its contents---are made entirely of ice.
And, although it melted in this past summer's heat, it's being rebuilt again this winter. The hotel in part of Chena Hot Springs Resort and sits next to geothermal springs which bubble from the ground and which and remain incredibly warm (like the water of a warm bathtub) despite air temps of -20 to -30-degrees. The time we spent with Jon and Karin Nierenberg and their sled dogs in Healy, Alaska near Denali National Park and with veteran Alaska meteorologist Tom MacPhail, who invited us to his cabin within sight of the Alaska Range on a blustery winter day (the daytime temperature was near +5-degrees and the winds were gusting to 35-40 mph), was memorable. All these moments and our time in Girdwood with Chris Von Imhoff and Larry Daniels and the Alyeska Resort's avalanche control team in Girdwood, Alaska are included on the program. Hope you have a chance to check it out Christmas Night (Saturday) at 9:30 pm on WGN-TV.
-- Tom Skilling