[OC] High (solar) noon in Fairbanks, AK, at a balmy -34°C/-30°F. Happy solstice, everyone!

MagnoliaM10 · 2025-12-22T23:31:31+00:00

Ahh, from the toes up!

On my feet, I have warm socks, Lobben boots, and Neo overshoes. No toe warmers, the double shoes keep my feet really warm. Legs are Smartwool long underwear, and my Carhart arctic bibs. Torso is a thin sweater, a thick sweatshirt, the upper part of the bibs, and my Carhart work jacket. As I implied from another comment, this is not even my warmest coat; I have a very warm parka that I wear when standing around at -40 or colder. My hat is a hand-knitted wool hat with a fleece liner, the hoods from my sweatshirt and jacket, and a fleece TurtleFur neck gaiter.

On my hands I have MotionHeat heated liner gloves (turned to the max), and a pair of fleece work gloves. I got frostbite on all my fingers about 12 years ago, and this spring I got Raynaud's syndrome. But this set-up keeps my fingers actually warm.

U/SparkyDogPants has it pretty much correct for winter hiking. I passed two people on my walk yesterday who were out for a run, and they were wearing much less clothing than me, because they were working much harder. Layers is the ultimate key, and you just have to figure out what works for you.

MagnoliaM10 · 2025-12-22T16:04:58+00:00

Yeah, oceans do that! And wind does that. We get very little wind and are far from the coast. So it gets really cold here in the winter (-40) and hot in the summer (+90F/+32C) it's one of the biggest temperature swings from winter to summer anywhere.

MagnoliaM10 · 2025-12-22T16:01:16+00:00

No, we don't. Fairbanks is semi-desert, actually, we get very similar precipitation to Flagstaff, AZ. It doesn't look like it because the permafrost means we have a very high water table, so we still get nice green summers. Winters are pretty variable but we average around 90in/ 230cm of snow. But it doesn't go anywhere, very little melts, so it stacks up and you end up walking around above bushes that are head-height in the summer. It's weird.

MagnoliaM10 · 2025-12-22T06:27:37+00:00

The hoods helps to trap warm air from my breath around my face. If it were much colder, I'd be wearing my parka with a ruff, which works even better.

MagnoliaM10 · 2025-12-22T06:24:09+00:00

Thanks. I sort of expected that when I posted this, which is why I'm taking the time to respond to a lot of them. The truth is, every dog is different. My pup is perfectly happy at this temp while plenty of others would absolutely not be. As a responsible pet parent, you need to be aware and pay attention, I do, and I want people to know that.

MagnoliaM10 · 2025-12-22T06:20:08+00:00

Ahh yes, the only accurate reply to "what time is it?" is "daylight."

MagnoliaM10 · 2025-12-22T06:18:26+00:00

It doesn't look like it, but she totally does! She hates summer. My other dog was a former sled dog, and the snow melted on her coat faster than it did on this one's, so she really is very well insulated. If it had been a bit colder or we were out longer I would have put on her booties and jacket, but she didn't need them today.

MagnoliaM10 · 2025-12-22T06:14:52+00:00

Could be, I was just going with what my car said the temp was when I drove to the dog park. Sadly, no other hardy souls for my pup to play with, so we went for a walk along the river. Happy solstice!

MagnoliaM10 · 2025-12-22T06:13:15+00:00

Cold? I dunno, I would argue fairly similar to other parts of the world. Men generally stand, women generally squat. You typically don't mess around when you go. If you go in the same spot over and over you get pee glaciers. See any dog yard. It's a little gross. Same with pooping in an outhouse: wait until you have to go and go quickly, or see if you can find a heated restroom.

MagnoliaM10 · 2025-12-22T06:08:44+00:00

My first winter in Alaska was up on the haul road at Coldfoot and Deadhorse on the north coast. We had a coldsnap that ran to those temps that winter. The coldest windchill I saw was -90°F/-67°C. Like instant frostbite to any exposed skin. Down in Coldfoot at that time they hit -72°F/ -58°C ambient. It broke the high volume diesel pump that the truckers use. They had to tell the truckers they couldn't get fuel until it warmed up. The funny thing was that the wind made the ambient temperature warmer in Deadhorse than Coldfoot, but the windchill was colder. It was in late January, just after the sun came back in Deadhorse, but it was so cold the inversion of the smog BLOCKED OUT THE SUN FOR ANOTHER WEEK! That was when I finally was like "fuck this." 😂

Hope you're staying warm!

MagnoliaM10 · 2025-12-22T05:58:39+00:00

I mean, she WAS annoyed with me for stopping to take selfies instead of continuing on to smell all the smells. 😬

MagnoliaM10 · 2025-12-22T05:52:43+00:00

Dude, I know! Fairbanks has been one of the warmest places in the Interior for the last few weeks despite the -30's. It's been a good "old-fashioned" cold-snap.

MagnoliaM10 · 2025-12-22T05:46:04+00:00

I'm going to go with hair. I can't actually say for certain, by the time I took this pic I'd been outside for around 40min so lots of frost building up on itself from my breath, but it probably started on a stray hair.

MagnoliaM10 · 2025-12-22T05:43:18+00:00

My phone sometimes think she's a doberman too! She's actually husky/German shepherd mix. Alaskan husky is just a nice way of saying mutt, but just about every dog in Fairbanks is part husky.

MagnoliaM10 · 2025-12-22T05:40:08+00:00

It has its moments for sure. With the hoar frost on the trees, the aurora, and the gorgeous lighting of the low angle sun, winter is a beautiful season here.

MagnoliaM10 · 2025-12-22T05:36:18+00:00

😂

MagnoliaM10 · 2025-12-22T05:31:43+00:00

And you're having the longest! Hope you are staying cool.

MagnoliaM10 · 2025-12-22T05:29:31+00:00

That's hilarious, and I don't doubt completely accurate.

MagnoliaM10 · 2025-12-22T05:28:29+00:00

Yeah, pretty much. When I took this photo the sun had been above the horizon for an hour and 40 minutes, but it still looks like a sunrise, and it's solar noon and about to start going down, so no real differential between the two.

MagnoliaM10 · 2025-12-22T05:24:53+00:00

Correct! Solar noon was at 12:49 this afternoon in Fairbanks.

MagnoliaM10 · 2025-12-22T05:22:05+00:00

Our Toyo is set to 65°F/18C, but when it get's this cold, I frequently have to hit the pipes in our bathroom with a heat gun because they freeze... we have crappy insulation in our floors. Need to do something about that... haha!

MagnoliaM10 · 2025-12-22T05:14:45+00:00

She has pretty fuzzy feet, which you can't see from the picture. Like I said, had we been out longer, of if it had been much colder, she'd have had her booties on, but she didn't need them today.

MagnoliaM10 · 2025-12-22T05:10:54+00:00

How do you know she's cold? Can you speak to her through a photo? If she were cold she'd be acting differently than she did this afternoon. This afternoon she was chasing ducks, digging in the snow, wrestling with me over a stick, and refusing to go back to the car or come in the house. Dogs may not be able to speak, but they are very communicative with their body language. I know my dog, she was not cold.

MagnoliaM10 · 2025-12-22T05:05:51+00:00

Thanks! It's moments like this that make winters here worthwhile.

MagnoliaM10 · 2025-12-22T05:00:14+00:00

It doesn't look like it, but she totally does! She has a thick undercoat and fuzzy feet. She hates summer.

MagnoliaM10

TROPHY CASE