Fairbanks is located in the heart of Alaska's Interior, on both shores of the Chena River, near its confluence with the Tanana River in the Tanana Valley. Fairbanks is known for its lingering summer days. Fairbanks typically enjoys long sunny days during the summer months, with temperatures frequently passing the 70 degree mark.
Fairbanks was a major shipping center via waterway for the rest of the Interior, but in modern times water transportation is primarily recreational or used for subsistence hunting and fishing access. The Interior, home of Fairbanks and Denali National Park, has some of the most extreme and variable weather in the world with rapid temperature swings, thunderstorms with hail and lightning and snow in the summer. According to the New York Times, spectacular displays of the aurora borealis ("northern lights") are visible on an average of 200 days a year in the vicinity of Fairbanks. The City of Fairbanks is known as the "Golden Heart City," and if you have the good fortune to visit or live here, you will soon discover why we have earned that name. With its northern location, Fairbanks is a great starting point for tours across the Arctic Circle and to the Prudhoe Bay oil fields.
Written by Lyndsey Morgan
