Just east of there -- about 15 miles (25 km) or so -- is a little Yukon Territorial campground at a point called Snag Junction. It used to be home to a small village and airfield with an official recording thermometer for Environment Canada, the Canadian equivalent of our National Weather Service.
Sixty-three years ago today, on February 3rd, 1947 Snag became famous.
Well, infamous.
A massive bowl of bitterly-cold Arctic winter air settled over the region and Snag was the place where North America's coldest-ever record temperature was set:
81 below*.
The whole of interior Alaska, Yukon and the NW Territories are used to cold air, but the belt running from Yukon's Kluane Lake to Alaska's Tanana River Valley is particularly cold.
The reason is mountains.
Very very big mountains.
This particular piece of geography is boxed in from moderating weather forces from the south, unlike most anywhere else in the world. The soaring peaks of the Alaska Range and the Saint Elias Range effectively bar warm air from the North Pacific and also casts giant shadows from the low-hanging winter sun with it's limited heat.
Plus, the area is one giant valley where cold air can settle.
Cold air that forms in the high peaks of the Wrangell and St. Elias mountains drains downhill and into the narrow White River basin, where the Snag airstrip is located. The high mountains also block the flow of warm, moist air from the ocean. That limits the formation of heat-trapping clouds over the White River basin.... Alaska Science Forum article / 23 January 2003
Despite nearby mountain peaks of 17,000, 18,000 and even 20,000 feet high, the entire region sits at an elevation well below one thousand feet and it gets cold in them thar valleys.
Residents of cities like Fairbanks, for instance, often choose to build their homes in the surrounding hills rather than along the riverbanks of the city center.
It's ''warmer'' up there.
It's not uncommon for winter temperatures in Fairbanks to drop to -30 or -50 degrees, while residents on the ancient, rounded hills surrounding the city (geographically, they're called 'domes') sometimes see temperatures warm enough to melt snow or experience rain.
Snag doesn't have it so lucky.
There are no hills near Snag... therefore there's no place high enough to escape.....
.... which might explain why the place is now abandoned.
If you want to escape Snag's cold, ya gotta move to a wamer place....
like Whitehorse or Watson Lake.
(where it only gets down to minus-40.)
*Temperatures all across North America were recorded in degrees Fahrenheit in those days.
The rough temperature in Celsius is minus-63.
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