T. Neil Davis is a seismologist at the institute. One measure of how well garden crops will grow is the range of temperature each day. To obtain the index value for each day, the Fahrenheit maximum and minimum temperatures are added together and the sum is divided by two. This gives a sort of average temperature for the day. Added up over the course of the summer, the total growing-degree units so obtained is a good indicator of agricultural potential.
Some surprises come out of the calculations of growing-degree unit totals.
Because of its warm summers and long days, the Fort Yukon area has even more growing potential than the Fairbanks area. These results would seem to prove that the farther north you live, the better will be your garden. Residents of Point Barrow and Barter Island may not believe the proof and might be inclined to point out that having continental climate helps a lot. Actual tests with crops do support the indication of the growing-degree calculations. Dr. James Drew, head of the University's Institute of Agricultural Sciences, cites sweet corn as an example.