03.13.10

Mush! The Last Great Race

Posted in General News, Weather News at 11:28 am by Rebekah

The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is underway in Alaska.

Last Saturday, 71 teams set out from Anchorage on their approximately 1,100-mile-long journey to Nome.  As of today, the leading musher, Jeff King, is well over halfway done with the race.

Although there is currently an extratropical cyclone in the Gulf of Alaska, it looks like snow and blizzard conditions will be limited to southern Alaska.  On the other hand, there will be no shortage of cold weather for the mushers and dogs!

It’s currently 28 below in Nome, and the NWS is calling for a high today of 10 below.  Yesterday, tonight’s low was forecast to be 25 below with a wind chill of 50 below, but today it’s been updated to only 20 below with a wind chill of only 40 below!  No wonder most of the mushers come from Alaska–there are probably few other people that could withstand the cold.  🙂

According to the National Climatic Data Center, Nome’s average high in March is 17.7 °F and average low is 0.5 ºF.  The record cold temperature for Nome, not including wind chill, is -54 ºF (records date back to 1900).

For more information on the Iditarod, and up-to-date information on the current standings and location of the teams, check out the official site of the Iditarod.

Iditarod route; this year the teams are taking the northern route.  Courtesy of The Official Site of the Iditarod.

Alaskan weather forecast for today.  Courtesy of the National Weather Service in Anchorage.

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