“…A heavy and deep snowpack fills the valley and tree line in the northwestern Chugach Mountains. Powerful upper level winds form lenticular clouds over the summit of O’Malley Peak, shredding them apart in seconds as they down-sloped the steep south face. A massive red spire of aurora rises through the center of a yellow-green auroral curtain beyond the ridge. A very intense high pressure system known as an “Omega Block” brought severely cold Arctic air masses over Alaska and to the south from Siberia. Ambient temperatures reached in the minus 70’s in Interior Alaska and record cold was felt farther south than Texas…”