Alaska Excursions

Alaska Excursions

Wide range of glorious day trips throughout Southcentral Alaska.

Iditarod 38

Photos and stories from the last great race.

Anchorage: 21°/27°/Cloudy

Fairbanks: -9°/6°/Clear

Juneau: 29°/37°/Cloudy

More weather

Often Alaska's coldest spot, Bettles is setting records

More from Alaska

Alaska's 8.8% unemployment rate is highest since 1992

Alaska's unemployment rate hit 8.8 percent in December, up 2 percent since December 2008 and the highest since September 1992. It's still well below the national rate.

PDF: Alaska December unemployment statistics

Audit faults state spending on Ketchikan road to unbuilt bridge

A legislative audit requested by a supporter of the belittled "Bridge to Nowhere" in Ketchikan concludes the state should not have begun work on a new highway until knowing if the span would be built.

SLED DOG RACING

King wins Copper Basin 300

A lesson that Lance Mackey taught Jeff King two years ago at the end of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race may have helped the 54-year-old Denali Park veteran capture his second Copper Basin 300 title -- 15 years after his first.

Forecast says loss of Alaska jobs is slowing down

Scientists go to extremes for Arctic research

Wanted, dead or alive: Frogs riding north on Christmas trees

Haines eagle foundation gets healthy donation

Russian musical kicks off film fest

UAF suspends cash-strapped Susan Butcher Institute

Holiday Train canceled

The Associated Press

FAIRBANKS -- It's been bitter cold in Bettles, 200 miles north of Fairbanks.

The village in the foothills of the Brooks Range recorded a new record low temperature of 47 degrees below zero on Saturday. It was the fifth day in a row a new record low was set in the town, and the sixth day in a row that the temperature was more than 40 below zero.

Bettles weather observer Max Hanst said Bettles typically is one of the coldest places in Alaska, but even this is unusual. He said these temperatures usually occur in January.

It's been chilly elsewhere in the Interior.

In Fairbanks, it was 34 degrees below at Fairbanks International Airport Saturday morning. That was one degree shy of tying the record low of 35 below set in 1904.