Editor's Note Dreaming of a Colder Place

"How's the weather up there?" I asked.

"It's been a cool summer," he replied, stirring my jealously to life. But it was a rainy one too, he continued—a good thing because the rain doused the forest fires burning just outside of town. In summer, he said, Fairbanks gets only a few weeks of temperatures in the 80s, and once every few years it hits the 90s. But on the flip side, he added, the first frost of the year usually strikes in August, wiping out all the gardens just before the weather warms up again. And over the years it has snowed there every month but July, he said. That day it was a pleasant 63 degrees in Fairbanks—with no snow in the forecast.