I learned a new meteorological term this weekend: Chinook wind. It’s a strong, warm coastal wind in the Pacific Northwest that basically blows tropical air right up into the arctic. It can also occur when warm air masses are directed along mountain ranges, causing wind. Known also as the “snow eater,” a Chinook wind can cause temperature swings of 40+ degrees in a single day, and it can power through over a foot of snow by melting and blowing it away at the same time.
I learned this new term because, this weekend, Alaska had its first Chinook wind since Jay and I moved up here. It started on Saturday, and by Sunday, temperatures were in the mid-40s (it was in the 20s last week), and Anchorage had wind gusts of over 100 mph. It rained nearly all day yesterday, washing away most of the snow buildup we’ve gotten over the last month (about 2 feet) and turning sidewalks, driveways, and roads into a slushy mess. In Fairbanks, they didn’t get the high winds, but the Chinook caused them to have an 60-degree temperature shift (!).
You might think that the snow melting was a good thing. However, with the Chinook wind, once it passes through, temperatures immediately drop back to what they were before the winds began. In our case, that means temperatures dropped back into the 20s overnight, and anything that was slushy or standing water yesterday is solid, slippery ice today. We did luck out, though. The winds blew for long enough after the rain stopped that the major roadways were dry and ice-free this morning. But walking is pretty treacherous, and I doubt the ice will melt any time soon. Time to break out the Yaktrax!
