One thing we're constantly asked by folks relocating to Alaska is about our weather. What are the winters like? Do you have 24 hour sunlight in the summer? How do you survive when it's -40 (or colder)?

If you're headed to Alaska just to start a new chapter in life or relocating with Eielson Air Force Base or Fort Wainwright Army Post, this should give you an idea of what you're in for. Having called Alaska home for almost 30 years I can tell you there's no place quite like The Last Frontier.

The truth is we do have some cold winters, but the summers more than make up for them.  Our summers are moderate, dry and generally not very windy.  I don't know that we broke the record for coldest winter this year or not, but we came awful close.  There were a couple of times it registered 65 below zero at our house in North Pole.

Fairbanks is often described as an arctic desert.  Most of the precipitation in the Interior is from our annual snowfall.  Summers are fairly dry although some years, like 2008, can bring record rains the the Interior.  It's certainly not something we see often.

As a rule, winters in the Interior are dark.  With the onset of the summer solstice, we begin losing daylight.  Initially no more than a few seconds, but eventually we lose up to 6-8 minutes of daylight a day.  In the depth of winter, the sun barely creeps above the horizon.  On a cloudy day or a very cold day with heavy ice fog, you can expect to not even see the sun.  Sounds bleak, I know, but December 21st marks the turning point where we start gaining sunlight.  By May 15th the sun doesn't set until after 10PM, and even then there's plenty of light to enjoy any outdoor activity you can imagine.