Good morning. We have 30 degrees & southwest winds ... whole lotta meltin' goin' on out there! Black puddles abound (we use gravel & sand for traction - chemicals don't help much at 20 below), and cars are all the same color, this time of year: a sort of greyish-beige.
The annual spring dusty haze (yellow) is grey this year, thanks to a fresh layer of ash from Mt. Redoubt. You can see the haze from miles away, hanging over the Anchorage bowl. Yay.
It will be close to 40 degrees again today, which I suppose is a good thing. The snow is melting rapidly, but has a long way to go. There are places where it's piled 30 and 40 feet deep, and those "snow dumps" won't melt entirely until July.
It's nearly time to remove the studded tires from the vehicles, but everyone is remembering last year: the roads were clear, 80% of people had their summer tires back on the cars, and we received 24" of snow on April 25th. We'll just have to bite the bullet and take our chances. The State, bless their darling hearts and empty heads, granted an extension for removal of studded tires after the blizzard hit, and after most had already been removed.
Driving home on that Friday in near white-out conditions, with little traction ... fun stuff. Actually, we didn't have any real problems with the roads until we got to our driveway, which goes up at a 30-degree angle for the first 25 feet. That was a little tricky; thank goodness for momentum.
There have been no more discernible quakes since yesterday afternoon, and Mt. Redoubt is still quiet. The prevailing winds are blowing toward Anchorage, but should swing to the east later this morning.
We have to hold a run-off election for mayor, on May 5. A candidate must receive 45% of the vote, to win, and the top vote-getter received 43-and-a-fraction percent. So he (my favorite) and the number two person (19%) will have another month to run commercials. Yippee for us.
That's about it for now. Stay tuned, folks, 'cause ya never know, up here!
Psalm 22:27-28: “All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee. For the kingdom is the Lord's, and he ruleth among the nations.”
6 comments:
That must be quite a site to see, all that snow melting so quickly. Well at least it is only a month more of commercials. Does this run off thing happen often? Over twenty percentage points seems like a large margin.
About 30 years ago we lived in Rolla Missouri (not exactly the great white north!) and we had a snow storm on April 22nd that landed us with 12 inches of snow! I ended up having to walk the 2 miles to work because I couldn't get my car out.
With that experience in my background... I can't believe they think snow tires should come off the cars before May 31st in Alaska!!! LOL.
Lanny, the rules here require that the mayoral winner must garner at least 45% of the vote, so yes - run-offs are not uncommon, especially this year when there were 15 candidates splitting the vote.
Teresa, I know Rolla quite well, and have driven in and through it many, many times.
The primary reason for removing the studs by May 1 is to limit pavement damage. Our asphalt resembles exposed aggregate after 30 days of dry weather during studded tire season.
I look at those commercials as a "stimulus" package for the folks who make 'em and those that air 'em. Since it's alocal election I'm guessing the money will stay close by--which is good.
I encourage the economic activity, but the community still has to tolerate them on radio, TV, mailed flyers and cards, and in print - although I've gotten good at tuning them out.
LOL - I rather figured it was something like that after the UPS guy tore up our driveway this winter with his chains. What a moron he was... however it's difficult at the changeover times to make it all work sometimes.
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