Fastest warming place on Earth: Nome has now seen -30F only ten days in a row; only 252 inches of snow so far this season at Valdez

Snow keeps piling up in Valdez; cold snap sets records in Nome: Severe Weather | Alaska news at adn.com

The [Valdez] season total stood at 252.8 inches and the snow depth stood at an even 6 feet.

...Other extreme weather is hitting Nome, where, for the first time in 13 years, the temperature hit 40 below zero. The low was recorded just after 10 a.m. Thursday. The last time it was this cold in Nome was Feb. 1, 1999. The last time a minus 40 reading was taken on Jan. 5 was in 1917.

Temperatures in Nome remained "firmly in the 30s below zero" on Friday, according to the weather service, making it the 10th consecutive day with temperatures below minus 30. Temperatures of minus 38 on Jan. 3 and minus 38 on Jan. 4 broke the previous low temperature records for those days.

This is the longest severe cold wave since a record-breaking 16-day stretch from Jan. 15 to 30, 1989. That epic spell saw two days tie Nome's all-time record low, 54 below zero.

...Nome has not seen temperatures above zero since Dec. 23.