In the small burg of Glennallen, about midway between the Mat-Su Valley and Valdez, the temps can get really low.  It frequently dips below -40 F in the winter.  Houses are few and far between and businesses almost non-existent outside the tiny town center.

This extreme cold can be, and frequently is, a killer in Alaska.  Most up here know to carry emergency supplies in their cars because a breakdown or sliding off the road and getting stuck could be potentially lethal.  Oftentimes, this has the effect of making Alaskans a distinctly helpful bunch though.  It is the norm to help someone in need because you may be need it soon enough, and one cannot assume that someone else will be along soon to act as the good samaritan.

There have been occasions when the cold has even done a little police work.  An Alaska State Trooper stationed out there got called to theft.  The two suspects were fleeing the scene in the car that they stole.  He was quite distant from the call but responded as fast as he could on the icy roads.  As he got nearer the location of the call he saw the stolen vehicle stuck in the snow on the side of the highway.  Only one man was with the car.  He was drunk and surrendered peacefully.  He said his buddy had run off into the woods.  They were miles from the nearest homes and at least 15 miles outside of town.  The Trooper didn’t want to leave his car with a suspect in the back as he tried to track the other man through the woods.  He didn’t have any backup.  So he began driving up and down the long stretch of road slowly.  Every few minutes he’d call out using the loudspeaker on his car, “Hey, you cold enough yet?”  Before he’d made too many passes he noticed the second suspect, in a light jacket only, vigorously waving the Trooper down!  Suspects apprehended, car recovered, and maybe a life saved by working smarter, not harder, and with a little help from the sub-zero temperatures!