Fairbanks

Captain E.T. Barnette founded Fairbanks in August 1901 while trying to set up a trading post at Tanacross (where the Tanana River crossed the Valdez-Eagle trail). But the steam boat Barnette was aboard, the Lavelle Young, ran aground and he was deposited seven miles (11�km) up the Chena River. Smoke from the steamer's engines attracted some prospectors, and they met Barnette where he disembarked. The prospectors convinced Barnette to set up his trading post there. The city is named after Charles Fairbanks, a Republican senator from Indiana and later the 26th Vice President of the United States, serving in Theodore Roosevelt's second term.

The Tanana Valley is an important agricultural center for Alaska, and during Fairbanks' early days the vicinity of the town was a major producer of agricultural goods. Despite early efforts by groups like the Alaska Loyal League and the Tanana Valley Agriculture Association, and the editor of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, W.F. Thompson, to encourage food production, agriculture in the area was never able to fully support the population, although it came close in the 1920s.

The Tanana Valley is crossed by many low streams and rivers that flow into the Tanana River. In Fairbanks, the Chena River flows southwest until it empties into the Tanana. Noyes Slough, which heads and foots off the Chena River, creates Garden Island, a district connected to the rest of Fairbanks by bridges and culverted roads.

These widely varying temperature extremes are due to three main factors: temperature inversions, daylight, and wind direction. In winter, Fairbanks's low-lying location at the bottom of the Tanana Valley causes cold air to accumulate in and around the city. Warmer air rises to the tops of the hills north of Fairbanks, while the city itself experiences one of the biggest temperature inversions on Earth. Heating through sunlight is limited because of Fairbanks's high-latitude location. At the winter solstice, Fairbanks experiences 3 hours and 43 minutes of sunlight. At the summer solstice, Fairbanks receives 21 hours and 49 minutes of direct sunlight; after sunset, twilight is bright enough to allow daytime activities. During winter, the direction of the wind also causes large temperature swings in Fairbanks. When the wind blows from any direction but the south, average weather ensues. Wind from the south can carry warm, moist air from the Gulf of Alaska, greatly warming temperatures. When coupled with a chinook wind, temperatures well above freezing often result.

Since 1949 Fairbanks's average winter temperature has risen by 7.7 °F (4.3 °C), average spring temperature by 3.8 °F (2.1 °C), and its average summer temperature by 2.3 °F (1.3 °C). During the same period, Fairbanks' average autumn temperature has fallen by 0.4 °F (0.2 °C). If only the years 1977–2008 are considered, Fairbanks' average annual temperature has dropped by 1.3 °F (0.7 °C) degrees.

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