Southern Yukon is basking in some unusually mild January weather this week, with temperatures climbing well above the freezing point on Wednesday and expected to stay that way into Thursday.

Temperatures in China's northernmost city plunged to minus 53°C (minus 63.4 degrees Fahrenheit) -- its coldest ever recorded.

Light rain is expected to fall across much of the region Tuesday, with a storm possibly bringing more rain to Anchorage on Wednesday.

Denali receives a foot of snow in mid-winter storm. Interior areas, including Fairbanks, also received high amounts of snow.

Twenty people were rescued from a chairlift at the Hlíðarfjall ski area outside Akureyri. The lift stalled when the wire was blown off its spool by a strong blast of wind.

Alaska Railroad freight train derailed early Tuesday after plowing into avalanche debris south of Girdwood. The debris spread roughly 300 feet across the tracks.

The last time the water levels were this high in some places was in the late 1990s or early 2000s. According to the Finnish Environment Institute (Syke), floodwaters will likely spill onto fields and roads in parts of southern and western Finland, but not into buildings.

Last winter there was record low snow. But now there are reports of snow records and amazing skiing conditions on the mountain.

The opening of the famed Dettah ice road, a six-kilometre route that cuts across Yellowknife Bay, is typically opened on Dec, 24, according to a 20-year average. Yet a week-and-a-half later, there's still no word on when it will be operational.

A typical December brings about 6 inches of rain to Unalaska. But the island has already received more than 10 inches this month. Michael Lawson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said an atmospheric river above the Eastern Aleutians acted as a funnel to allow warm and rainy weather to move from the south to the north, directly across the region.

Some 1,600 bats found a temporary home this week in the attic of a Houston Humane Society director, but it wasn’t because they made it their roost. It was a temporary recovery space for the flying mammals after they lost their grip and plunged to the pavement after going into hypothermic shock during the city’s recent cold snap .

Anchorage and Mat-Su Borough schools and state offices are closed Thursday as a third major winter storm this month coated the area with snow overnight Wednesday. “In the past 11 days, we’ve had 41.1 inches of snow which is a lot for Anchorage,” Baines said.

Alaska State Troopers said on Tuesday that Curtis Worland, a Court Service Officer for the Nome AST post, was killed by a musk ox in the afternoon.

See photo gallery.

Strong winds and heavy snowfall have led to flights being delayed, trains being cancelled, and motorists told to avoid unnecessary journeys.

A week of several freeze and thaw cycles left Nome and the region with puddles on ice and scenes that look more like breakup in spring rather than the customary snowy landscape of December. The rain on ice interrupted normal life in Nome.

All schools in Anchorage and the Mat-Su Borough are closed Wednesday due to slick roads across the region, as snowfall continues. “This is the heaviest snowfall the Anchorage area has seen in over 20 years,” said state Department of Transportation spokesman Justin Shelby. “Our crews are keeping up as best they can.”

The lack of winter sea ice is keeping temperatures warm. Climatologist Rick Thoman says it's a "very clear climate change signal."

December should have sea ice development in Norton Sound. But no sign of ice yet this year. Several storms have moved northward across the western Bering Sea and brought strong winds and bouts of above freezing weather to the Teller area and all of the Bering Strait region.

Only two passenger flights from Anchorage made it to Dillingham within the last week — one on Saturday and one on Monday. Another flight is expected Tuesday afternoon.