Rick Thoman, Climate Specialist at the International Arctic Research Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, joins Jennie and Jay to talk about the unique impacts of climate change in Alaska and around the Arctic.
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Music credits: Largo Montebello, by Domenico Mannelli, CC.
Rick Thoman, Climate Specialist at the International Arctic Research Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, joins Jennie and Jay to talk about the unique impacts of climate change in Alaska and around the Arctic.
Support us on Patreon as a free or paid subscriber
Book a trip planning session with Jennie
Take Jennie’s FREE four question quiz to get personalized itinerary recommendations based on your travel style
International Arctic Research Center - Resources from scientists for real people about climate change in Alaska, online courses
Free online Alaska climate change course
Shop all Jennie’s Alaska Travel planners and premade itineraries
Let Jennie plan your trip for you!
Music credits: Largo Montebello, by Domenico Mannelli, CC.
Welcome to the Alaska uncovered podcast with me, your host, Jennie Thwing Flaming, I bring you accurate, helpful and entertaining information about Alaska travel and life and Alaska. My occasional co host and full time husband, Jay and I are committed to keeping the Alaska uncovered podcast ad free. To do that we need your help. If you're enjoying the podcast, we invite you to contribute toward tip jar, which is the first link in the show notes. We are so grateful for our listeners, and we wouldn't be here without you. Thank you and enjoy the show. Are you feeling confused about why it's bad if a cold place warms up? We've got answers today. Our guest today is Rick Thoman. Rick works as an Alaska climate specialist at the International Research Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks go Nanooks. Rick has been in Alaska since 1988, working for more than 30 years with the National Weather Service. And since 2018, at UAF these days, much of his work is focused on helping people who are not scientists understand climate change, and the resulting impacts in Alaska. When he needs a break from that you'll find him digging into his Pennsylvania Dutch family history. Before we welcome Rick and before we dive in, I want to just add a note from Jay and I that we are operating in reality on this podcast. Climate change is real and it is happening. And this conversation is specifically about what is happening that is unique to Alaska and why it matters to Alaska and also the rest of the world. Rick, welcome to Alaska uncovered. Thank you for being here.
Rick Thoman:Great. Thanks for having me. Jennie. Looking forward to our conversation. Yeah,
Jennie Flaming:me too. So can you tell us a little bit about how you got to Alaska? More than 30 years ago?
Rick Thoman:Yes, I can. So way back in the day, in the dim days before the internet, the task that you did in elementary school was you get a state report. And you heard of that you had to write to the state tourism office and get their packages. And here I am in third grade. And who do I write to Alaska. I grew up in Southeast Pennsylvania, we in Pennsylvania Dutch boy that I am. And in the late 60s and early 1970s. We in Southeast Pennsylvania did not have much snow or cold. And for a kid that loved snow and cold. Couldn't get it outside. So where better to turn than Alaska?
Jennie Flaming:I think, Jay, I don't know what you think. But this might be my favorite Alaska origin story that we've ever had. But
Rick Thoman:wait, there's more. Okay, so then we get to again, back in the DEM days. Probably about eighth grade junior high. You know, what do you want to do when you grow up? civics class. And what did I wanted to do? I wanted to be a meteorologist in Alaska.
R. Jay F:Oh, man, so you're bored. Oh, gee, nerd. I mean, sorry, I just.
Rick Thoman:Yeah, so um, so I have always wanted to come to Alaska. And I got to got to make that dream come true. And I will say that. I have been in Alaska now for 36 years. And every day, I'm happy to wake up in Alaska.
R. Jay F:That is, that is the best origin story I've heard yet. Yeah. So say, you know, well, when I was in at UAF, in 91, I had a friend there and she got to Alaska by throwing a dart at a map to see where she would go to college. And other than just being really bad at darts. Because that's nowhere near yours is the exact opposite of that you had a very specific dream and made it happen. That's that's really cool. And
Rick Thoman:and I think the rarest part of that is I'm still glad it happened. Right?
R. Jay F:That's so cool. You know, Rick, we also share a strange and and loose ancestral connection and my, my family, we're all Mennonites, so I have some loose connection to the Pennsylvania Dutch community. Ancillary I guess that's really cool. Yeah. So are you up in the Western Center at UAF? Are you in Fairbanks? Yes,
Rick Thoman:I am in my office, which is located on West ridge. That's the farthest west building.
R. Jay F:very close to the conveniently located next to the ski trails. Exactly.
Rick Thoman:Yes.
R. Jay F:So Rick, how did you get to be an expert in climate change? And in Alaska, I assume when you were in doing your graduate studies and stuff, you probably weren't studying climate change? Because it wasn't really the topic of interest. When did you get into it? And and how did you become so specialized?
Rick Thoman:So climate really has been my interest, as you know, since since I was a kid. It really I just really enjoyed kind of that that longer view. So if we think of weather as what's happening right now in the environment, so the temperature right now the precipitation rate right now. Climate in in essence, is really nothing but the statistics of weather, the statistics of what's happening right now. So the high temperature today is really a climate statistic, right? It's the highest value of a whole bunch of instantaneous, what is it right now temperatures. And so that was really my interest. There's a whole lot more jobs in weather forecasting. And weather, of course, is the is the building block of climate. So that's what I wound up going into, because that was a way to earn a living. But my interest in kind of that longer view was always there. And I suppose that, you know, that is reflected, for instance, in my in my hobby of family history, that longer view kind of the history, which certainly falls into climate is really impart that long view of weather.
R. Jay F:You know, thanks for clarifying that. I think I, you know, I hear a lot of people commenting on something about a particular day's weather. And, you know, equating that with climate, I think what you describe it as being the building blocks of climate that is actually very, very clarifying.
Jennie Flaming:you know, that actually makes me think of something, Rick, that I would love to ask that we didn't talk about before. But I'm thinking about when you hear something like, this is the normal weather for this day, like, you know, the average high temperature in March and Fairbanks says, whatever the average low in September is this, how does that do those averages get updated? Based on what the current weather is? Or like? Does that make sense? What I'm asking like, how, if if a warmer temperature becomes normal, does that get accounted for when like a forecaster says, oh, it's going to be a cold snap or warmer than normal?
Rick Thoman:So great question. And so the answer is, of course, it's rooted in history, right? So by international convention, climate normals, for general purposes, are defined as the typically the averages over a 30 year period, again, by international convention, those are updated once a decade. So currently, we are using 1991 to 2020 as our 30 year baseline, that will be updated sometime probably in the US in 2031. When we will then increment to the 2001 to 2030. normals. God, that is all rooted in history. Obviously, we could do it differently. Today. That's the history from you know, back when pencil and adding machines were the way these were crunched. Right. So that's where that comes from.
Jennie Flaming:Okay, cool. That's super interesting.
R. Jay F:That just reminds that just reminds me of how in archaeology, the present is defined as 1950. It's, it's it never changes. That's right. That's right.
Jennie Flaming:So, Rick, tell us a little bit about what is happening with climate change in Alaska and in the Arctic, so not for those listening. Not all of Alaska is in the Arctic. Some of Alaska is in the Arctic, but a lot of it is not. So tell us a little bit about what actually is happening with climate change in Alaska?
Rick Thoman:So the short answer is everywhere in Alaska is warming up particularly since the 1970s. That's the short answer. The longer answer is everywhere in Alaska is warming, but the rate of warming varies tremendously. For instance, the North Slope of Alaska is warming at about four or five times the rate that say the Aleutians were Kodiak Island, are warming. Yes, we can come up with a number for how fast as Alaska is warming. But that regional variability is extremely important. That shouldn't be a surprise, right? Alaska is a huge area, complex terrain, spanning from 71 degrees north at Yagnik, down to 52 degrees north at 8x. So a tremendous latitudinal range, even a larger longitudinal range. So yes, Alaska is warming, but the rate of warming varies greatly. Yeah, nation is increasing. So it's not quite as dramatic as temperatures at this point. But one of the things that we're seeing in recent years in all parts of Alaska, are these extreme precipitation events. So lots of lots of very heavy precipitation. Could be rain could be snow, depending on where you're at in the season. In short order, say in a day or two or three. Anchorage the last two winters extremely heavy snow. last several years, we've had two fatal landslides in southeast Alaska produce excessive storm scale rain, so over just the course of a few days, yeah, all these kinds of things are, are changing in Alaska temperatures are that are kind of the poster child, but really, everything is changing.
R. Jay F:That's, you know, I had the experience of so I worked up in Gates of the Arctic back almost 20 years ago now. And a couple years ago, I was up on Ellesmere Island, doing some archaeology stuff. And and you know, the impacts are so shockingly clear there with the coastlines that were just just seem to be evaporating as as the permafrost was melting, and then the storm surges, just wash it away, you know? Why are the impacts of climate change so much more clear and obvious in the Arctic?
Rick Thoman:Well, certainly one of the reason is that the rate of change is so much higher. Alaska, say the North Slope of Alaska with that is the fastest warming area. In Alaska. It's not the fastest warming area in the Arctic that that honor, if you will, falls to Svalbard, north of the Scandinavian mainland coast. But the changes are so large, it's it's really, completely obvious. You don't need any statistics, you only need your lived experience to tell not just the annual temperature. That's a pretty abstract concept, right. But, you know, most people, it's perfectly obvious if they've been in a place in Alaska for several decades, that winters are not as cold. We're not getting the long duration, deep cold that we used to summers are often warmer. If they're not warmer than they're wetter, the ball seems to be coming later, the spring, overall coming earlier, the snow cover season is shortening. The time of the year when, say rivers are open for boating, is lengthening all of this in, you know, not just in that multi generation historical perspective, but really, in a single adult lifetime. These very obvious changes both in the land and on the sea.
Jennie Flaming:Yeah. Do you know anything Rick about why there is a more extreme experience in the far north than other places is it just because it's colder to start with so it's it there's more of a change that's visible or is it something different than that? That's something that I've been kind of curious about.
Rick Thoman:Yes, we know exactly why that is and then in the reason is, changes in the frozen part of our in environment. So things like sea ice, things like snow cover things like frozen ground permafrost. Those are the things as you cross that freezing point as you go from snow to bare ground, or sea ice to open water. That represents a sharp change in the whole physics of the Earth system. Yeah, one of the most dramatic examples we see of that is at gutian avec Alaska's northern most community, in years past in most October's that sea ice moved in from the north. And so you could get very cold in October, because that ocean water was basically sealed off, and now you had ice on the ocean snow cover on the land. Since 2002, October ice has disappeared. And that means you've got a now a heating blanket of ocean water. ocean water, by definition can't be colder than about 29 degrees Fahrenheit, if it's any colder than that, it's not water, it's ice. And by the time you get to October there's no there's no appreciable heating from the sun. And that water acts as a heating blanket now. And so since 2002, every single October at Utqiagvik has been significantly warmer than the 20th century average. And that is entirely down to that loss of sea ice.
R. Jay F:Oh, interesting. So I'm also hearing inherent in that is that that so much stuff in Alaska is dependent on ice. If you I'm picturing that if you are eating an ice cream cone, and it warms up five degrees, you don't have an ice cream cone anymore, where if you're drinking a, you know, a soda and it warms up five degrees, it's still a soda. There's like, you know, it's just a slightly different temperature. But the ice cream cone is no longer what it was. It's it's it doesn't have structure anymore. And ice is. So that's kind of what I'm picturing from from here.
Rick Thoman:That's an excellent, excellent analogy, that that in what we would put in jargon, at that phase change of water is so important. And it's not like, of course, that that snow cover isn't a thing at lower latitudes. But it's not the dominant process the way it is at high latitudes, including most of Alaska.
Jennie Flaming:That makes a lot of sense. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it's like, it's it's not just the warming. It's also the fact that it's warming around a certain point that's really changing. Like you said, I think the physics of how the earth works, or how the atmosphere works.
Rick Thoman:Yeah. So so there's that. The other thing is related to that temperature of course. When people think of greenhouse gases, usually, you think of carbon dioxide. That's the that's the big one, right? But did you know that water vapor is also a variable, an important greenhouse gas, but it's the only one of the greenhouse gases that the amount varies greatly. Because air that is cold, can hold much, much less water vapor than air that is warm. So even a few degrees increase in the Alaska or arctic air temperature, say in winter, that air then can hold much more water vapor, right, our whole greenhouse gas, and it also allows the potential for more cloud formation. So all of these things are conspiring to produce this much greater warming in Alaska and the Arctic as a whole. And that's known, again, as a jargon term As that arctic amplification of climate change.
Jennie Flaming:Yeah. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Okay. So Rick, I know you've already kind of alluded to this quite a bit. But I would love to just ask you really explicitly something that I've had quite a few people ask me when I'm working as a tour guide, or just in life, which is like, why is it bad for a cold place to get warm? I mean, if you live in Fairbanks, and you know, you have these long cold slaps, slaps, that's that is what it feels like these cold snaps. You know, nobody likes it when it's 50 below. Except musk ox. So like, what's the big deal? I think, you know, why is it a problem for Alaska to warm up?
Rick Thoman:Well, it is a problem on a lot of fronts in the sense that Alaska our ecosystems, our plants, our animals, and even modern Euro American society is built for cold. Yeah, sticking in Fairbanks. You know, every house, every building is built to contain heat within it when it's 50 Below, you don't want to be eating the great outdoors. However, now, okay, so now let's only say and below in the winter, that's great. Let lower heating bills, right. But what happens when it's 85 to 94 days on end in the summer, you still got a house that's built for containing the heat. And so we wind up with heat problems at much lower temperatures than would be a problem in the lower 48 As we saw in 2019, in Anchorage, which is much less used to very warm summer temperatures than interior Alaska, temperatures in the upper 70s. Were Causing heat, probably because buildings are built to contain heat. Yeah, of course, with our ecosystem evolved for cold. We have the spectacle now, one of the iconic species of tree species of the Boreal Forest, white spruce, Eastern interior, Alaska is now becoming too warm for them. Now, that doesn't mean the trees all die at once. But as wildfire comes through, those trees are not favored to grow back because summers are too warm for them. Conversely, in western Alaska, we see that spruce trees are spreading very quickly towards the Bering Sea coast used to be too cool in the summer to support tree growth. Now it isn't. Similarly with with animals we see, of course, animals are spreading into areas that they didn't previously live, say, Moose on the North Slope, or beavers into northwest Arctic borough. Animals, of course, don't care at all how we measure temperatures, they don't care at all about normals. Yeah, all they do is they live where they can and they don't live where they can't. And these same kind of changes are occurring very rapidly in the seas around Alaska to particularly in the Bering Sea warming ocean temperatures, decreasing sea ice, has meant that we've seen a whole raft of southern Bering sea fish species, which are really just an extension of the North Pacific, they have moved northward in some years, all the way to the arc to the in some years all the way to the Bering Strait. And go that is an area that previously was much more of an Arctic marine environment. Those Arctic species are gone. Presumably they have gone north to find colder water.
R. Jay F:So how about those are those impacts to animals and plants and stuff, obviously affect people like overall are can you call out a few of the ways that this climate change is affecting, affecting the the people who live in Alaska, specifically?
Rick Thoman:Certainly on things like thawing permafrost, who wouldn't be thrilled that your ground is not going to be permanently frozen now? Well, we are not happy that the ground is not permanently frozen. Here in interior Alaska in the Fairbanks area. The Department of Transportation is spending an immense amount of money to repair the same stretches of road every single year. As the permafrost underneath them thaws, the roads become like sometimes. Sometimes, the analogy of a roller coaster ride is used but it's actually even bumpier than that. And that is an ongoing process that the state is spending amazing amount of money on permafrost thaw is affecting structures buildings, both rarely everywhere that permafrost is found, which is the more than half of the state is underlined by at least what they call that discontinuous permafrost. So between 10 and 50% of the area has permafrost and of course north of the books range. Permafrost is continuous everywhere. As that the area the area of the ground that thaws in the summer increases lots of damage, not just a row. but even to buildings, infrastructure that is extremely expensive to Repair and Replace, I would, I'm going to hazard a guess that when people are doing their 21st century review, in the fall of 2099, the cost to the state of Alaska and to the government in the United States from permafrost thaw in Alaska is going to rank right up there amongst the highest expenditures from climate change. Certainly, in our indigenous communities, these changing Natural Resources plants, animals, on land and in the sea, are having are forcing a very rapid adaptation to different species or, for instance, in the case of the collapse in the last few years, have both chinook and Chum salmon on the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers, a resource that's been available for millennia is now suddenly gone. And not readily replaced. Yeah,
Jennie Flaming:yep.
R. Jay F:Yeah, that's, that's it, especially when you consider how few resources are in play for indigenous Alaskans? You know, it's not, there's not a lot of alternatives. It's not like there's an agricultural system waiting to jump in and fill in the gaps and stuff that it seems very dire. When we, you know, we a lot of our listeners, are folks planning to visit Alaska, is there any way that anything that you could point out that people might be able to see when they're there just to witness? Like, is there something when you're on your commute to work that you can see that illustrates climate change going on in Fairbanks? Well, that
Rick Thoman:that is an interesting question. Certainly, for, for folks, say on cruises. Cruises are having to go farther, for instance, to show people Alaska's majestic glaciers. dramatic decline. Yeah, glaciers of Southeast Alaska, Gulf of Alaska coast, Prince William Sound. It's not that they're gone. But they're very, very different. than was the case say 30 years ago. Here in here in interior Alaska. I've already mentioned the, you know, just the frost heave roads. For folks go on to Denali Park in the next year or two, you will be the victim of climate change as the as the Denali Park Road close, they're due to that. That's that rock glacier movement in there.
R. Jay F:That's a great example. Yeah.
Rick Thoman:That's directly a climate change related phenomena that that slope had been stable for 1000s of years. And now it isn't. Yeah, so but some of the changes that that have occurred, are really spectacular or even heartbreaking. If you know what the way it used to be. One of the most iconic images of climate change to me is if you cast your mind back to the 2019 Iditarod. There's a iconic photograph of a musher coming in to Nome, there on the beach at nome, and there is open water on the Bering Sea directly behind them. And yeah, that should look like that is just a heartbreaking photograph.
R. Jay F:I do a lot of historic re photography, where I will very, very carefully recreate an historic image and I've thought about doing a series of Alaska glaciers. But honestly, they're moving so fast. Backwards, that where would I choose my you know, I could reshoot it again a year later, and it would be visibly different from one of my friends is from Anchorage. And we went to do that at Portage Glacier with a photo he had from when he was a kid in the early 80s. And you know, you can't see Portage Glacier from the parking lot at all.
Rick Thoman:There's a very nice Visitor Center. And when that was planned, the glacier was there, right? Yeah. And now it's like there's this visitor center in the wises here on a pond.
R. Jay F:A pond. Yeah, totally.
Jennie Flaming:Yeah. So Rick, I expect that a lot of our listeners, maybe like myself can feel kind of overwhelmed by this topic. It's like, you know, it's such a crisis and, and it feels so difficult to know as a person, like what we can do to change it. And I know that there are things that humanity can do to change it, but it can feel kind of overwhelming as a person, an individual. And I'm wondering if you have any, either any advice about navigating that since you're facing this kind of global crisis daily in your work, like, if you have any advice about that, and also, what you would recommend for good sources of information that are based on science about climate change.
Rick Thoman:So let's see. So how to deal with our rapidly changing environment. This is something I struggle with. But to me, one, you know, I do what I can do, just out of a sense of, it's the right thing to do. And I think that, that's going to, that's going to drive a lot of it. This is a global problem. And it is not going to be solved by Rick Thoman switching from plastic to paper straws. But we all have a part to play. Although it's bigger than all of us, the bigger than any of us, we all can contribute to the solution, or we can contribute to the problem. And I hope that everyone will contribute to the solution, knowing that just what we do individually, is not enough. But we have to, we have to be on the right side of history here. The other thing that gives me hope, as a as an older Alaskan, is the youth, it is obvious that there is a big generational difference in Outlook and approach to what we're facing. And I have I have every confidence, I won't live to see it. But I'm confident that when the youth of today are my age that we will be much farther along to adapting and coping and, and hopefully ultimately ending this warming that we are in now.
Jennie Flaming:that's awesome. Thank you for sharing that.
R. Jay F:Yeah, I appreciate that optimistic. bit there, too. I feel the same.
Jennie Flaming:Yeah. And are there Rick, are there any particularly good resources for, for learning about information? That's related to climate change, either in Alaska or elsewhere? Like, what what do you what advice do you have about like, navigating kind of the media landscape with lots of information? And how do you know what's accurate? What suggestions do you have about that?
Rick Thoman:Yeah, so there, there is a lot of junk out there. And there is a lot of good information, and it's gonna depend on what you're interested in. This is the portion of the program where I can I can plug our resources that we have here, no Arctic Research Center,
Jennie Flaming:and we'll put them in the show notes so people can find them.
Rick Thoman:If folks are interested in in just a quick overview, on our international Arctic Research Center, homepage, we have a link to our publication series, we have a whole series of publications on Alaska's changing environment. So where we talk about changing climate we've got one on Alaska is changing wildfire and Vironment brand new one out we've got a whole series on berries in a changing climate and I we just came out, I cannot take credit for this, but it's a great publication, blueberries in a changing climate cloudberries in a changing climate. Awesome. Coming up next, I believe we have cranberries in a changing climate. So we've got this whole series of easy to read. They're professionally designed, these are not scientific hacks. They're supposed to be a fun engaging, but they are authoritative. If you want to dive a little deeper, here at the international market research center a couple of years ago, we put together a whole open online course? The fun and that's I love the name. It's a fun online course it's completely free. And you can pick and choose what you want to learn about. You want to learn about more about the changing climate. We We've got a whole segment on that. You want to learn about the human geography, indigenous cultures, the political situation in the Arctic, we've got a whole section on that all completely free. And of course, I also produce an Alaskan Arctic climate newsletter. That is I try to aim it at kind of the interested layperson. And you're welcome to subscribe for that. And it is completely free.
Jennie Flaming:That's awesome. How how do we and other people get on your newsletter?
Rick Thoman:Yeah, that's my I put that out on substack right now. Oh, okay. Cool. Oh, and it's just the Alaskan Arctic climate newsletter.
Jennie Flaming:Okay. Awesome. We'll put a link to that in the show notes along with the International Arctic Research Center. And you said the mock the or the Moke. Classes are also on that website.
Rick Thoman:Yes. There's a link. There's a link to them there.
Jennie Flaming:Okay. I'll find them. And it's called them. It's called
Rick Thoman:the Arctic in a changing environment. Perfect.
Jennie Flaming:Well, we're gonna take a short break. And when we come back, we are going to ask Rick our wrap up questions about Fairbanks. Hi, everyone, Jennie here. I hope you're enjoying this episode so far. If you're listening in real time in April 2024, and you're planning to travel to Alaska this summer. It's not too late. Let me help you make that dream trip come true. Through one of my planning sessions, or even planning the whole thing for you. If you'd like more help, follow the link in the show notes that's just below the tip jar to book a session with me want to do it on your own? That's also awesome. Take my free four question quiz to get an itinerary suggestion based on your travel style and your personal dreams for your trip. The link to that is in the show notes too. All right, back to the show.
R. Jay F:And we're back and we're gonna do our final wrap up questions with our special guest live from Westridge of University of Alaska Fairbanks. Rick Thoman, Rick, we always wrap up with the same questions for for folks. And they're not out in your direct area of expertise as a climatologist, but instead as a Fairbanks. So what's your favorite month in Fairbanks?
Rick Thoman:What is my favorite month in Fairbanks? Ooh, that is a tough question.
R. Jay F:I already know what your answer is because we talked about it before. Well,
Rick Thoman:so I'll say, I guess I guess, in general, my favorite month is whatever month it is now. But if I really have to choose, that's a great answer. I'll say you know, the end of February and the first half of March is a beautiful, beautiful time of year. It's the clear on average, climatology, the clearest time of year so auroras are very frequent at night. Yes, it's still getting cold but the sun is back heating up the air. So really quite delightful for almost every kind of winter activity, whether it's Aurora viewing, cross country skiing, snow machining, or just going for walks in the in the beautiful sunshine that after overwintering in Fairbanks and, and having those very short days in December is just a joy. My other favorite time of year is really right around Labor Day, which is the time of peak colors in interior Alaska in the trees. That's the time of the year all the summer mosquitoes and, and biting gnats and all that those are all gone. Days are usually still warm, and you've got those beautiful autumn colors. So that's my long answer to your simple questions.
R. Jay F:It's what was very ambassadorial with that. I also I gotta say that the first frost is amazing when it's like killed off all the mosquitoes but then you get the sense of like, oh, wait, wait, I hear the rest coming. Yeah,
Rick Thoman:It is a short season. That is a fact.
Jennie Flaming:Those Those are the two times of year that I miss Fairbanks the most I would give the same answer that you did that those are really, really magical times. Okay, what's your favorite restaurant in Fairbanks?
Rick Thoman:Favorite restaurant. Little known fact as far as I know. Um, Fairbanks is the Thai restaurant capital of Alaska. I will I will go with our with our Westridge favorite. And so we will say, of the many many Thai restaurants in Fairbanks. Nearly all of them are very good. I will go with lemongrass as my favorite good choice favorite restaurant in Fairbanks.
Jennie Flaming:Rick I think thanks to this podcast, the amazingness of Thai food and Fairbanks is no longer a little known fact.
Rick Thoman:So I'm not the first person to say so.
Jennie Flaming:I am not sure how many episodes we have about Fairbanks, but it's quite a few. It's probably about 10. And every I don't know Jay if you can think of any exceptions, but I think every single person has mentioned I think so Tom Thai restaurant in Fairbanks.
R. Jay F:we did a bunch of quick sound bites last October when we were at a conference in Fairbanks. And so I recorded a ton of little five minute interviews and almost everybody mentioned, David Yeah. People from all over the state and they were like the Thai food here is really good. We wanted to make it into sort of a like, a clip of just like a dozen people saying Thai food Thai food, Thai food, Thai food.
Rick Thoman:You know, my wife has has friends that I that got that. At least they used to go to Thailand every winter. Oh, wow. Cool, they said, and they said that the best Thai food in Fairbanks is, is in competition with the best Thai food in Bangkok.
Jennie Flaming:impressive.
R. Jay F:It's I believe it though. Okay, Rick, final question. It's a day off and you get a little free time. What's your favorite thing to do? For fun in Fairbanks?
Rick Thoman:Ah, whoo. So much to do. Um, well, we are at that time of year. Here we are knocking on the door of March. So I'm going to say that every year can't miss International Ice art championships. Yeah. Especially I particularly like to go just after dark. When the when the ice sculptures are lit up. Many of them lit up with colored lights just just really beautiful. And having having been a dog musher. As a younger man, I still like to go see all the dog mushing activities that happened in Fairbanks in March.
R. Jay F:Good answer.
Jennie Flaming:Yeah. Love it. That is so cool. Well, Rick, thank you so much for the work that you're doing and for your willingness to come on the podcast and share it with us. Thank you so much. You
Rick Thoman:bet. Absolutely. Really appreciate it. Yeah, hopefully. A decent show out of all that. Yeah,
R. Jay F:absolutely.