Staff at Anchorage's Brother Francis Shelter have seen cases of hypothermia and frostbite, during a subzero chill expected to continue next week.
But the data illustrates a circumstance both unseen and commonplace in Alaska’s biggest city: In April, unhoused people were found dead on a sidewalk, in a ditch, in a sleeping bag tucked in the corner of a parking lot, along the state’s busiest highway.
It's cold. And those frigid temperatures aren't going away anytime soon. The cold has set in across most of Alaska and set daily record lows in places like Homer, King Salmon and Bethel. It's relatively early to be seeing such cold.
January has so far been colder than average and the trend is expected to continue, breaking the 22-month trend of consecutively warmer-than-normal monthly temperatures.
For the last four nights, temperatures dropped below zero in Anchorage, which isn't uncommon this time of year, but turns out, hasn't been very common in recent history.