Taking Your Life in Your Hands

The temps in Anchorage have been fairly steady for the last couple of days. Although it was supposed to reach near 29 yesterday, it stayed around 20. It's 19 here this morning.

But here's the problem: the humidity has gone up. Way up.

Anchorage has been described by at least one weather writer as a "sub-arctic desert" because we typically get little rain in the summers, and not that much snow in winter. Average snowfall is about 65". Wisconsin, upstate New York, Michigan (and places like those) all receive much more snow than we do.

But yesterday, our humidity was 81% at 7 p.m. It seems to have stayed high all night, and is at 90% this morning. Since the ground is frozen, the moisture condensed and froze on the main roads, which have been mostly cleared of snow.

This morning we have black ice. There are diagonal skid marks in that layer, visible only when headlights illuminate them. There were two vehicles in the median along my drive to work; emergency vehicles hadn't even responded to the second one yet.

So what to do? Most Anchorage drivers use studded tires, although some still scoff at the notion. One such fellow wrote in the local paper that if we knew how to drive, we wouldn't need studded tires at all.

I've driven on icy roads most of my life. Growing up in the Midwest, I was accustomed to seeing more ice than snow, and had long since learned to drive on ice, most of which is readily apparent. But Anchorage's roads are something else again, what with mostly black ice on very cold streets.

Our first winter here, I had good "mud & snow" rated tires ... and my 6,000 truck slid through the same major intersection twice. Yes, I have anti-lock brakes; yes, I began slowing a full block before the red light. It made no difference, as there was no traction whatsoever. All I could so was sit helpless behind the wheel, anti-lock brakes fluttering madly, as I slid at a barely-reduced speed right through the red light. That big rig had become a three-ton bobsled.

The second winter was worse; we had more ice, and the tires were more worn.

I have studded snow tires now, like most local drivers, and when combined with the weight of the truck, have little trouble. I typically only realize the roads are slippery when I notice others having problems.

This morning, I did notice the truck getting a little loose in one or two places. It's slick out there, wherever there's bare pavement. The streets with some snow still on them aren't so bad. But having the proper equipment for the conditions makes all the difference - the op-ed writer's piece notwithstanding. It just makes sense to be prepared.

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It occurs to me that folks who opt to carry a firearm have the same mindset. There are varying types of predators and other critters - and some have more than two legs. We have some 800 moose living inside the city limits, and there are black, brown, and grizzly bears here, too. Last winter, there were apparently two packs of wolves roaming the northeastern parts of the city, where a couple of dogs were killed and eaten while on a morning walk with their owners. A wolf pack chased one jogger, but she got away & called for help.

Although I didn't see see any reports of maulings in 2009, there were three people injured by bears in city parks in 2008. There have been bears hanging around the dumpsters at the property I manage, although those are too tall for the bears to get into, now.

I carry two types of ammo when I go out; one for large animals, and another for the two-legged variety. Proper equipment for the conditions, you see.

It just makes sense to be prepared.