Annual Winter Weather Reports

I just can't help myself...









It was -16 at my house this morning,
-20 at my brother's house next to the
Little Susitna River.

Camouflauge

"Follow the white rabbit."

It was a balmy 29 degrees this morning when I took the dogs for a walk. Sticking out like a sore thumb about 30 feet from my driveway was a Snowshoe hare all huddled down secure in the belief that his natural camouflage would protect him from being seen by me and the dogs. The dogs couldn't see him over the driveway berm and the undergrowth. Since we have no snow yet, his white winter coat wasn't doing a very good job of concealing him.

Results of the Wind

"Where have all the...leaves gone?"

The wind blew pretty good last night, stripping the last of the yellow leaves from the trees. The termination dust had crept about half way down the Talkeetnas this last rainy week but the wind brought warmer temperatures and the snow retreated over night. It currently 51 degrees at Trippingovermoose Ranch.

Google Street View

Waiting for daylight...

We started into work this morning. The temps were
in the 40s and the roads were wet but clear of ice.
About half way there a phone call alerted us to the
schools, buses and what have you still being closed.
My brother called his work and discovered his building
wasn't open either, so we turned around and returned
home. Once home, I called my work and found out my
facility was open. I'll probably go to work later this
morning after the traffic dies down.

Meanwhile I got the idea to look at my workplace from
Google Street view. Here it is...














The fire truck parked in front told me that the
Google probably drove by when we were having
a fire drill. If so my coworkers and I would
be standing in our parking lot. I negotiated around
to the back of the building and there we all were.
I'm in the group marked with the arrow, immortalized
by Google Street View.

That Was One Scary Commute

And a weather update...

A 1500 mile Pineapple express warm front slammed into the Alaska mainland yesterday. It blasted the Arctic cold front off the Alaska map, pushing it off to the east where it has begun sinking into the midwest, (sorry Minnesota!)

The temperatures rose around 50 degrees with high winds. Last night it was freezing rain on top of the ice and snow packed roads. For some reason my brother and I came to work anyway. We lost count of the number of vehicles in the ditch on the way to Anchorage but the radio says more than 150 in the area. All the schools, people-mover buses and military bases are closed. My company sent us an e-mail telling us that the office wouldn't be open until 10 am. Of course you'd have to be at work to get the email and I had already been at my desk for 2 hours.

The roads were obviously horrible all the way in. But when we got to Anchorage itself they became scary. Inches of wet black ice completely covered the pavement. All along the road the semi-trucks were pulled off to the side of the road putting on chains. Any paved road with a hill was impassible.

We're going to head out and try to make it home in one piece in a couple of hours. Hopefully the rain and traffic has worn down the ice a bit. There is a good chance I'll be staying home tomorrow.

Another Year

Maybe it'll get better in 2009

Kate and I always spent New Years Eve together. I don't recall that we ever went out to a party or celebration, neither of us were into loud parties or being around drunk people. That's why our social lives were family get togethers, quiet dinners for two at Evangelo's Restaurant or making dinner at home and watching movies from the couch. I spent New Years Eve alone except for a sleeping old husky next to the recliner and a frightened husky panting and pacing. Shadow is terrified of firecrackers. My neighbors loudly celebrate New Years and the 4th every year. I went to bed at 11 but at midnight was joined but a shaking 75 lb husky attempting to crawl under me in the bed. We were awake until the explosions stopped at 1 am. The -23 F temperatures must have driven them indoors early. Usually they stay up at least until 2 am frightening my dog.

Weather update: The Thermometers are still OFL and we are going to get a little wind for couple of days. Wind chill tonight of -38 F.

The Wind Died Down

Dropping Like a Rock

The protective wind stopped blowing last night.
When I got up at 4:30 am to go to work it was -21 F.
So I went back to bed. When I got up 3 hours later
the weather stations both read offline. I know from
past experience that means it's colder that -23 F.
----------------------------------------------------

Yes, It's Another Weather Announcement

Sorry!

I know I said that I would try not to make this blog about the weather. And I have tried to stick with that as much as I can. In spite of the fact that I personally have 2 weather stations at my house. However, I find this interesting and I don't have anything else to write about so here goes....

Here in Southcentral Alaska we are in a seasonally normal cold snap. The temperature in the Matanuska Valley and the Anchorage bowl is currently about -10 F. Except over at TrippingoverMoose Ranch at the base of the Talkeetna Mountains. The last few days we have been experiencing high winds pouring down from the Copper River Valley, through the Matanuska River Gorge and sliding along the northern edge of the Matanuska Valley. As a result our temperatures have been averaging 15-20 degrees warmer than the rest of the area. Of course, with the wind our chill factor is -25 F but that's another story. Here's a current screen shot of the Wasilla temperature and a shot of my neighbor's weather underground station just down the street.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cold Weekend

Subaru, Round Two

It was a balmy -18 degrees Friday morning at TrippingOverMoose Ranch. The Subaru started and got me to my place of employment in Anchorage. However my son-in-law forgot to plug in his truck the night before. Long story short, in two hours he couldn't get his truck nor mine to start. He had to call his boss to come pick him up to get to work. Saturday morning, an even nicer -14 degrees, with the trucks plugged in overnight, we got them both to run. But the Subaru, which has no engine heater, refused to start. The Subaru used to live in the garage so I had never got around to putting a engine heater in it. Now that, in car years, she's getting old and having some issues, she's getting tempermental. Sunday morning we moved the trucks, pulled the motorhome out of the garage and dragged the Subaru inside with the Honda 4-wheeler. After 4 or 5 hours of warm garage she started up. By the end of Sunday the cold snap had snapped and we were +14 degrees. We moved the trucks, Subaru, 4-wheeler and motorhome around back to the original configuration. This morning, at +5 degrees the Subaru started fine and delivered my brother and I to our respective places of employment. I am going to call today and make an appointment to get her into see the Subaru doctor to address the progressive breathing-fuel problems she is having.

Winter 2008, First Snow

It started snowing this morning...

It's starting to accumulate a little but it's only 33.6 degrees F. If it warms up a little it'll melt away.

A little over a month ago the fireweed was still blooming. The conventional wisdom is when the topmost buds bloom on the fireweed, winter is three weeks away.

Apparently, I'll Never Learn

I really thought proclaiming Spring on April 24th with near 60 degree weather was safe.
I'll never learn...

Signs of Spring

Ok, I think we've broken the back of winter in the Great Frozen North. The temperatures in Wasilla were into the high 50s and low 60s this last week. The forecast is for some overcast and rain possibly mixed with a little snow for the weekend. No accumulation expected.
I am officially calling it spring because of all the signs of spring I saw and smashed into on my way to work this morning. It started off with the cow moose with last year's calf in the yard this morning. Next, just after the Subaru had achieved cruising speed on Wasilla Fishhook Road, a grouse jumped into the air from the side of the road and zigged when he should have zagged. The chicken sized grouse makes a real loud thump when they impact your windshield at 50 miles an hour. Fortunately they don't have as much mass as say, a moose butt, so the windshield didn't suffer any damage. I assume the grouse did.
Just as we dropped off the ridge to cross the Knik/Matanuska flats, a flight of Sandhill Cranes flew overhead, a couple hundred feet above my windshield, fortunately. Across the flats the air was full of flocks of Canadian Geese returning from wintering in Mexico or where ever they go to escape Alaska in the winter. Along side the northern branch of the Matanuska River, a quarter mile from the road, was a small herd or "gang" of 5 moose munching away on delicious bushes.
As we arrived in Los Anchorage, we spied another moose walking along the anti-moose fence that parallels the Glen Highway. She was just north of Merril Field Airport and of course on the wrong side of the fence trying to find away out. I made a comment about there seemed to be moose everywhere this morning. Five minutes later we were sitting at a stop light at 5th and Cordova when a yearling moose stepped into the street just ahead of as and ambled across to the other side, ignoring all crosswalks and traffic signals.

Feels like spring to me!

Snow

It's snowing again. Predicting 4 to 8 inches today and more tomorrow. We figured out what is causing it. My brother and I planned on towing his disabled truck to the local repair shop on Saturday. It snowed. Since he lives on a hill above Peters Creek, we canceled until the snow melted. We rescheduled it for today. It snowed. We are not going to make any more advance plan for the tow. We'll try to sneak up on it by spontaneously grabbing the truck next time the snow melts.

It Didn't work

I tried, I really did! After 55 years I know better than to think spring this early. So I quit blogging about the weather while the snow all melted away and the temperature was getting into the 50s. I really tried not to jinx it. But some tenderfoot must have said something about "Spring!"













Today at 3:30 pm.

Of_ln

That's what my digital weather station shows in the Outside temperature box when the temperature gets to -23 degrees. It's displayed that message the last three nights. Since at 12:30 in the afternoon it's -8 degrees in Wasilla I suspect it will be Of_ln again tonight. Could be worse, my friends in Willow had -35 degrees Saturday night.
But my living room is under construction! I re-sheetrocked, mud and taped the formerly paneled wall. I'll be doing the first sanding of that wall tonight. I'm building the new stairs this week. I post pictures after the new stairs are roughed in.

I'm Trying not to...

I'm trying not to write about the weather. So I'll not mention the +40 degree temperatures last week nor the -8 degree temperatures earlier this week. However this mornings commute was, I believe, noteworthy. The temperature is a moderate +12 and it snowed 8 to 10 inches last night. Leaving my unplowed driveway, the snow came over the nose of the Subaru, coating the windshield and blocking the headlights. I had to stop and clear the front of the car when I got to the plowed street. So traffic was a nightware. Slick snow packed roads and 30,000 commuters bumper to bumper and an average speed of 30 mph. We come in early, leaving Wasilla at 5:30 am. Consequently, we are ahead of the heaviest traffic. Usual commute, in the winter is 45 minutes. This morning 1 hour and 25 minutes. Several early ditch divers. I'm still trying to get the tension out of my shoulders.

Turn Indicators

I couldn't find anything wrong with the turn indicators. The emergency flasher button was sticky but I couldn't figure out how to get into the dash to clean it without taking the whole dashboard off. So I just sprayed some WD40 into it and let that soften up the caked on remains of splashed coffee. The roads and weather have been so bad that I decided to take the Subaru to a Wasilla shop this coming Friday instead of juggling cars to and from Anchorage. So I drove the Subaru to and from work yesterday, carefully planning my route to include actual turn lanes whenever possible so that my fellow drivers would know I planned on turning in spite of my lack of signalling ability. I negotiated to work in the morning and all the way back to my girlfriend/carpool partner Kate's house without incident. At the last left hand turn into her driveway my hand automaticly flipped the turn indicator lever down. The indicator came on. Surprised, after I pulled into the driveway I flipped back and forth form right to left, everything worked. Since all I actually did was pull and install perfectly good fuses and spray some WD40 I didn't figure out until this morning that it was the WD40 that did the trick. It was just a sticky coffee encrusted button.
Weather update ...+13 with wind. Chill factor -3.

More Weather...Groan!

I don't intend to have this a blog about Alaska weather. However it was -18 degrees when I got up this morning. It is +5 here in downtown Anchorage at noon. Hopefully the forecast holds since it's supposed to warm up starting tonight.

Weather

-8 degrees again this Saturday morning. This follows five work days of Hellish commuting. It snowed everyday this week. Not a lot, 8" total in Anchorage, half of that in Wasilla. But the roads were "slicker than greased ape shit," as my adolescent friends and I would say when I was an adolescent. That lead to ten, 50 mile commutes at an average speed of 25 mpg this week. I heard on the radio that in Anchorage, by Thursday morning, there had been over a hundred fender benders and cars sliding off the road for the week. My 12 year old Subaru, with 235, 000 miles is showing it's age. Last weekend I lost a headlight, the one I didn't break on the moose ass the winter before last. This weekend I have to try to fix my turn indicators. They quit working Thursday morning. I've checked the fuses, they're good. This morning I'll try to wedge my considerable self under the dashboard and try to find the flasher. If it's not the flasher it's a trip to the Subaru clinic next week. If I hadn't bought a motorhome and hearing aids lately I might be car shopping. Just as well, my plan is to drive this Subaru until I retire, in 4 years and 10 months, but who's counting.

Thank You!

For all of you who responded to my plea for more man made global warming, thanks. The morning temperature is +14 this morning. I really feel, if we all contribute, by July we could get the temperature all the way up to +70. It would be like, you know, weather.