It has been so cold for so long in Anchorage that the chill has settled into the bones of daily life.
At Skinny Raven, $189 ankle-length down Skhoop ski skirts sell briskly. Plumbers who unfreeze pipes and thaw washing machines are too busy to talk.
Meteorologists agree: January is on track to be one of the most frigid months on record in Alaska history, according to the National Weather Service.
The average temperature in Anchorage for January so far is 2.7 degrees.
That's chillier even than the legendary winter of 1989, when the Daily News reported a freeze so deep that the Anchorage Police Department couldn't start 21 of their patrol cars one January morning.
Meanwhile, trails are lonely, and so many people have dead car batteries that the wait for a tow truck can be 3 to 4 hours, says Cristina Esteban of Vulcan Towing. This month, the calls have almost exclusively been for cold-sapped batteries.
The usual ways of burning off youthful energy outdoors have been stymied too.
Anchorage Junior Nordic League practices have been canceled all but two nights in the past two weeks because the weather has been colder than the organization's minus-4 cutoff, said Junior Nordic coach Ellen Toll.
Perhaps most distressingly for elementary school students and their teachers, recess is often held inside.
Indoor recess is "the bane of every teacher's life and every child's life," said Denali Montessori principal Ruth Dene.
At Government Hill Elementary on Friday, proof of the desperation of the situation could be found in a classroom of first- graders practically vibrating with unspent energy while running in circles, smashing markers into a Dry Erase board and jumping up and down during their 20-minute indoor recess.
There have only been four days of outdoor recess for Government Hill students this month, said principal Brian Singleton.
"We have had more indoor recess this year than I've ever seen in my career," said Singleton.
The school district mandates indoor recess at minus 10, but schools factor in wind chill and whether kids are dressed appropriately. (In Fairbanks, outdoor recess is canceled when it's 20 below or colder.)
Some are unfazed.
Winterberry Charter School made a "community decision" to try to get kids outside at least for 10 minutes or so each day, said principal Shanna Mall. It's good for morale and learning.
"Our policy, really, is 'We weather the weather whether we like it or not,' " she said.
They watch kids to make sure they're warm enough, she said.
Toll has been hitting mostly-empty trails each day during the cold freeze. It's not about bad weather, it's about wearing good clothes, she says.
David Bass and his wife Annie Feidt woke up to a temperature of minus 9 Friday and headed to Alyeska Ski Resort to ski anyway.
Bass spoke Friday by cellphone from the top of Alyeska, sporting a frozen beard and what his wife described as "snotsicles" that gave him the tusked look of a walrus.
Their response to the cold snap was a shrug.
Bass and Feidt are dedicated skiers, hitting Anchorage trails on even the most frigid nights.
"The conditions are actually great right now," he said.
JOIN THE DISCUSSION | Register here
We welcome comments. Please keep them civil, short and to the point. ALL CAPS, spam, obscene, profane, abusive and off topic comments will be deleted. Repeat offenders will be blocked. Thanks for taking part — and abiding by these simple rules. A thorough explanation of rules of conduct can be found in our Terms of Service. If you have any questions, including why your comment may not be showing immediately after you submit it, be sure to visit the commenting FAQ.