Snag, Yukon

Snag is a village located on a small, dry-weather sideroad off the Alaska Highway, 25 km east of Beaver Creek, Yukon, Canada. The village of Snag is located in a bowl-shaped valley of the White River and its tributaries, including Snag Creek. It was first settled during the Klondike Gold Rush. An aboriginal village was also located approximately 8 km away. It was the site of a military airfield, established as part of the Northwest Staging Route, which closed in 1968. In 1947, the village of Snag boasted a population of eight to ten First Nation people and fur traders. An additional staff of fifteen to twenty airport personnel — meteorologists, radio operators, aircraft maintenance men — lived at the airport barracks.

Climate
Snag has a subarctic climate (Köppen climate classification Dwc/Dfc) with mild summers and severely cold and long winters.

On February 2, 1947, Snag recorded a temperature of -62.2°C (-80°F), beating the continental North American record-low temperature that until then, belonged to Fort Vermilion, Alberta, when it reached -61.2°C (-78.2°F) on January 11, 1911. The next day, on February 3, 1947, the record-low temperature for continental North America was recorded again in Snag: -63.0 C. That same winter, two previous records had already been surpassed: including the February 2 record, and one on December 15, 1946 noted various phenomena, particularly sound such as voices being heard clearly miles from their source. There was a clear sky (except for some ice fog), and little to no wind. There were 38.1 cm of snow on the ground, but the level had been in decline. Another town 180 km northeast of Snag, Fort Selkirk, claimed an even lower temperature of -65.0 C, but the claim could not be confirmed.

Disappearance of aircraft
On January 26, 1950, a Douglas C-54 Skymaster (tail number 42-72469) of the United States Air Force, with 34 service personnel, 2 civilians and a crew of 8, disappeared on a flight from Alaska to Montana. It was in the vicinity of Snag when last contact was made by radio at 17:09. No wreckage or remains have ever been located.