Ice fog. (This photo was taken in the 60’s. That’s my thesis adviser taking microphotographs of ice fog crystals.)

The sun will rise at 9:48 this morning, and set 6 hrs 33 minutes later at 4:21. We’re gaining over 6 ½ minutes a day, now, and the sun’s almost 15 times its diameter above the horizon at noon. The trees out my north window are illuminated almost down to the snow.

January started as a warm month, with an average temperature above zero – tropical for Fairbanks in January. That changed over the weekend, though. I got up Saturday to LL digital temperatures, and the dial thermometer read -50°F. Sunday was the same, except I never caught the digital thermometer reading anything but LL. The weekend was ice fog weather, and I stayed home. The dial thermometer read -50°F at 10 pm last night. As of 8:10 this morning, it was LL and -52°F. The weather forecast was calling for warming today, but I’ll believe it when I see it.