Towns at "altitude" in AK?

[ShipOfFools42]

Originally Posted by Glitch

It would have exactly the opposite effect during the winter. The air that is warmed up during the day in the valley would begin to rise up the mountainside in the evening. The cold air would sink, replacing the warm air in the valley.

Well, I was more talking about the southern mountains in Alaska, like the Chugach. Do all the mountains in Alaska have inversions? Because none of the mountains I live around here have inversions, so it must be a Western thing. They have them in Idaho and Colorado too, and probably Montana.

Originally Posted by Glitch

One of the reasons Alaskan towns are not located in any mountain range is because those mountains are much younger (except for the Brooks Range) than any mountain range in the lower-48. As a result, they are much steeper and more precarious than lower-48 mountains.

Yeah, but the Brooks Range is the one I want to live in/next to. I didn't realize that the Brooks Range was older than the others in Alaska, though. The mountains in which I reside are supposedly the oldest in the world (the Appalachians as a whole), and they have been chipped away to a pretty small size by about 200 million years of glaciation and whatnot. They work well for living.

But what about the Rockies out west? They're huge and pointy and precarious and everything that Alaskan mountains are, but people live all over the Rockies up at 12,000 feet and crazy numbers like that. If Alaska's mountains have inversions to ward off the cold, it would seem that you could build in them if you could build in the Rocky Mountains. I guess nobody has bothered to do it though.

[Glitch]

Originally Posted by ShipOfFools42

Well, I was more talking about the southern mountains in Alaska, like the Chugach. Do all the mountains in Alaska have inversions? Because none of the mountains I live around here have inversions, so it must be a Western thing. They have them in Idaho and Colorado too, and probably Montana.

It depends on the weather of course, but temperature inversions can occur anywhere. Los Angeles use to get temperature inversions that lead to smog being trapped low to the ground, and the only mountains they have in the area are the Santa Monica and San Grabriel mountains which peak at just under 9,000 feet.

Temperature inversions can occur, for example, when a warmer less dense air mass moves over a cooler denser air mass. This type of inversion occurs during warm fronts, and also in areas of oceanic upwelling, such as along the Pacific coast.

Not all mountains will experience temperature inversions in Alaska, but the Chugach Mountain Range certain does. And those mountains that do have temperature inversions will not have them all the time. It is dependent upon the weather conditions.

Originally Posted by ShipOfFools42

Yeah, but the Brooks Range is the one I want to live in/next to. I didn't realize that the Brooks Range was older than the others in Alaska, though. The mountains in which I reside are supposedly the oldest in the world (the Appalachians as a whole), and they have been chipped away to a pretty small size by about 200 million years of glaciation and whatnot. They work well for living.

But what about the Rockies out west? They're huge and pointy and precarious and everything that Alaskan mountains are, but people live all over the Rockies up at 12,000 feet and crazy numbers like that. If Alaska's mountains have inversions to ward off the cold, it would seem that you could build in them if you could build in the Rocky Mountains. I guess nobody has bothered to do it though.

The Brooks Range is estimated to be about 126 million years old, and is considered part of the Rocky Mountain Range. By comparison, the Alaska Range rose approximately 6 million years ago. The Rocky Mountain Range rose between 65 and 100 million years ago, so the Brooks Range is older than the Rocky Mountain Range.

The Brooks Range is also completely treeless. It essentially marks the treeline. Just south of the Brooks Range the trees begin. The Brooks Range is well worn and rounded due to errosion. You will not find the jagged peaks of the younger mountains among the Brooks Range.

[tigre79]

People live at 1500-2000 feet along the Richardson and in the Copper Basin area, including Kenny Lake, Copper Center, and Glennallen (some of which are summer cabins, but certainly not all).

Originally Posted by ShipOfFools42

But what about the Rockies out west? They're huge and pointy and precarious and everything that Alaskan mountains are, but people live all over the Rockies up at 12,000 feet and crazy numbers like that. If Alaska's mountains have inversions to ward off the cold, it would seem that you could build in them if you could build in the Rocky Mountains. I guess nobody has bothered to do it though.

The difference, in part, is that treeline in Colorado is upwards of 10,000 feet. Even as far south as Valdez it's about 2000 feet. We're a lot further north.

The highest anyone lives near Valdez is about 800 feet, not counting the Tsaina Lodge up at Thompson Pass, which (stupidly) isn't open in the winters at the moment. In addition to having snow on the ground from mid to late September all the way through May up there, you'd deal with frequent high winds, avalanches, poor visibility, and colder temperatures. It's normal for it to be 10-20 degrees cooler up there, but in the winter a forty-degree difference isn't unusual. There's just no point in trying to live up there when you can live down here, still have crappy weather a lot, but not have your house darn near blown away by snow or wind.

[Shari short]

If you have COPD is it hard to breathe in alaska

[Arktikos]

Originally Posted by FreedomThroughAnarchism

(a) Are there any towns in Alaska that are located at reasonably high altitudes, and if so,

No, there are not. I knew this, but decided to do a google search for highest town in Alaska.

The answer is Paxon, at 3400 ft. Not much of a town, either.

[ktaadin]

Both mentioned already, but Paxson and Cantwell. These truly "in the mountains" because the climate high up in Alaska is too inhospitable, but they have a little bit of elevation at least.

[AKStafford]

Originally Posted by Shari short

If you have COPD is it hard to breathe in alaska

Alaska is a big state. What area are you looking at. I live in the MatSu Valley and we get a lot wind here that stirs up dust and glacier silt. The Interior can get a lot of wildfire in the summer that puts a lot of smoke in the air.

[riceme]

Originally Posted by AKStafford

Alaska is a big state. What area are you looking at. I live in the MatSu Valley and we get a lot wind here that stirs up dust and glacier silt. The Interior can get a lot of wildfire in the summer that puts a lot of smoke in the air.

It was so smoky this morning it burned your eyes and you could hardly see through the smoke... Gorgeous blue skies this afternoon.

[arcticracer]

I work on telecommunications equipment, including radar sites in the most inhospitable places you could imagine in Alaska. The radar at Indian Mountain is at over 4200 feet and is a little above the Arctic Circle. In the winter it can be brutal with high winds, whiteouts, extreme cold. You really can't visualize what it is like. I could not imagine any sort of settlement at that altitude.