Heat takes toll as racers cross Alaska
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Mushers and their dogs in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race face plenty of variables in the Alaska wilderness. An unexpected one this year has been heat that is taking a toll in a sport better suited for temperatures well below zero.
Jason Mackey said a thermometer hanging from the back of his sled hit 80 degrees Fahrenheit at one point this week as he camped alongside the trail while mushers neared the halfway mark of the race. Other racers threw their game plans for the 1,000-mile race across Alaska out the window to deal with the heat and messy trail conditions.
Although it’s warm, it wasn’t 80 degrees in interior Alaska, which would probably be a record high in July, said Brian Brettschneider, a climate scientist with the National Weather Service’s Alaska Region. Instead, when you leave a thermometer in the sun, it absorbs the solar energy, which is the reason official measurement thermometers are kept in the shade.
But it’s still warm and sunny, and it’s having noticeable effects on people who are exposed to it, Brettschneider said.
Last weekend, the same area was much cooler than normal, with what appeared to be ideal mushing conditions. The warmer conditions are being driven by an area of high pressure, he said.
Many communities in the nation’s largest state hit record highs this week, from Kodiak off Alaska’s southern coast to Deadhorse, the supply town for oil companies operating on the state’s North Slope, about 1,250 miles away.
Along the Iditarod race route, the community of McGrath didn’t set records but had a high Wednesday of 36 degrees Fahrenheit, 14 degrees Fahrenheit above normal. More telling was a low temperature of 27 degrees Fahrenheit.
“Normally it should be below zero,” Brettschneider said.