Volcano Watch: Mt. Spurr eruption becoming more likely

(Note: Mt. Spurr is an active volcano roughly 78 miles west of Anchorage, across the Cook Inlet. Prevailing winds are WSW to ENE, so any ash tends to blow almost straight across the greater Anchorage area.  Paul)

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - The Alaska Volcano Observatory has seen an increase in volcanic gas emissions from Mount Spurr during flyovers in the last week.

The observatory says that new magma has intruded into the Earth’s crust beneath the volcano, which indicates an eruption is likely — but not certain — within the next few weeks or months.

 ... “Those eruptions each lasted a few hours and produced ash clouds that were carried downwind for hundreds of miles and minor ashfall [up to about ¼ inch] on Southcentral Alaska communities,” Haney said.

... Alaska Volcano Observatory Scientist in Charge Matthew Haney says the most likely outcome is something similar to what occurred in 1953 and 1992.

“Those eruptions each lasted a few hours and produced ash clouds that were carried downwind for hundreds of miles and minor ashfall [up to about ¼ inch] on Southcentral Alaska communities,” Haney said.

Screenshot / National Geographic

March 5 Iditarod Update

Current standings, maps, videos, blogs - it's all here.

Michelle Phillips is currently in the lead, out of Tanana just before 10 pm yesterday.

March 4: Iditarod Update #2

 March 4 - 10:20 a.m. - Top 8 mushers through Manley

Knik racer and former Iditarod champion Ryan Redington was in front Tuesday morning as eight mushers had made it to the race’s second checkpoint in Manley.

Six of those eight continued on after checking into Manley for just a few minutes; Fairbanks veteran Jason Mackey and Nenana veteran Jessie Holmes both are taking extended rest breaks.

Update & live blogs and video, here.

Northern Lights

We've had a couple of clear nights, and the aurora came out to play.

The views above Smallville last night:

A Weekend in Pictures

 Last weekend:

This weekend, after an hour's work:

While Older Daughter went camping near Whisky Point on the Kenai Peninsula, she stopped at Cooper's Landing on the Kenai River:

As always, click to embiggen.

Summer, Such As It Is

We're less than a month away from the summer solstice, and the days are deliciously long already. It's daylight when we get up, and daylight when we go to bed. 

We're some 300+ miles south of the Arctic Circle. That's the line above which the sun doesn't set in the summer. It does set here, but only just. There's a six-week window (three weeks on either side of the solstice) where it just barely dips below the horizon, and comes right back up.

That gives us 24 hours of daylight, of which about 90 minutes is dusky. It's our reward for surviving the seven months of winter, especially the month of December when we only get about 5 hours of daylight.

Of course, with the typical perversity of Alaska summers, it's often cloudy at night. But still, it's light outside at 0400 when I get up. And the temps are still cool, with only two days above 60° so far. That will change, of course.

In the political world (shudder), Anchorage just elected a far-left mayor to go with its far-left Assembly. Generally speaking, taxes will go up. Roads will continue to deteriorate, and things will not get better.

We are ever-so-glad that we moved away from that mess, years ago. Smallville is a great place to live, and the Anchorage mess to the south bothers us not at all.

Homer Moose Stomps Man to Death, Updated

On Sunday morning, an irritable cow moose charged two men in Homer, kicking and stomping one to death, according to Alaska State Troopers. Medics, Troopers, and Alaska Wildlife Troopers responded to the scene and declared the man deceased; the moose has since left the area. No other information was available on Monday morning. 

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game reminds Alaskans that it is not that hard to find yourself between a cow moose and her new offspring, a dangerous position in which to be.

If a moose is about to charge, you might observe the long hairs on its hump raising, its ears laid back (much like a dog or cat), and it may lick its lips (if you can see this, you are way too close, Fish and Game reminds).

“A moose that sees you and walks slowly towards you is not trying to be your friend; it may be looking for a hand-out or warning you to keep away. All of these are dangerous situations and you should back away. Look for the nearest tree, fence, building, car, or other obstruction to duck behind,” ADF&G says.

UPDATE: The Anchorage Daily News reports that the man killed was "trying to photograph calves, per the Alaska State Troopers".

Iditarod Update

Reigning Iditarod rookie of year disqualified from 2024 race

Bet You Didn't See THIS On Your Local News

 Video shows Anchorage woman shooing moose from grocery cart.

I bet you won't look at Costco parking lots the same way. :)

Just a Little More Snow

We were supposed to get 3" to 6" of new snow a couple of days ago. We got 8", which is fairly typical for snowfall this year, i.e., more arrives than was predicted.

That puts us at somewhat over 115" of snow so far this winter. The Anchorage area set a record for getting to the 100" mark quicker than ever before. Please note that "more than 100 inches" isn't a record; not even close. We routinely go over that amount.

So the snow fell on Saturday night and Sunday morning, then redeveloped Sunday afternoon. I was planning to run the snowblower Sunday evening, but a friend offered to bring his company's snowplow over and do it for me on Monday.

Well, sure! Why not? Except he didn't show up yesterday, as promised. I don't know what's happened, but suspect that perhaps the owner of the plow had other ideas.  

So I ran the snowblower tonight after work, and got it done in fairly short order. Ah well, people are fallible and stuff happens.

Anyway, the driveway is cleared, and the berms are gone. Also, the three weeks of subzero weather is  past, and we approach normal winter temps. Kind of nice when the heat output matches the setting on the thermostats, instead of lagging well below them.

Life is good here at the ol' homestead. :)

Snapshots

Greetings, Gentle Readers!

It's a balmy 4° F. here at the ol' homestead, but kindly notice it's above zero, rather than below. That's the first time in nearly three weeks we've been this warm.

We got another six inches of snow in the last 18 hours, most of it since breakfast today. Just a couple of hours ago, visibility was down to about 30 feet.

So of course, that's when we did our weekly shopping. 

Unloading groceries

After lunch, I'll have to run the snowblower again. I hope the city sends its snowplows before then, so that clearing the road so that the berms at either end of our driveway can be done at the same time.

This fellow trotted across the road in front of us the other day, necessitating a brief delay on the way home from work. (The line across the pic is the usual broken windshield; the glass replacement people have a booming business up here.)

A friend made the drive to Girdwood a week or so ago; I stole these pics from him.

The Weather Service Strikes Again

Yesterday morning, there were snow showers in the forecast. Of course, that was before going to work.

During our commute into Los Anchorage, they added "4 to 8 inches in Anchorage, and 3 to 6 inches" in our town.

Snowfall started mid-morning, and there was already 6 or 7 inches on the car when I left at 1600. Okay, we can deal with that.

We got up this morning to find that we got 12 to 13 inches overnight. That amount, on top of the roughly three inches already on the driveway, added up to a bit more than our small SUV can easily handle. And then the city plow closed both ends of our drive-through driveway.

Sigh ... another day's PTO burned by an unplanned day off to dig out. The big snowblower (30") handled it easily enough; I'm the weak link.

Good news: it's the first time since my heart attack that I was able to do the entire 260' driveway by myself. Yay! 

It took twice as long as it used to, but I hope that will keep improving, too. 

And the Red Lantern Award Goes To ...

March 20 - 12:01 a.m.

Last 2 mushers cross the finish line in Nome

Apayauq Reitan of Kaktovik has won the Red Lantern award, as the last musher to finish the Iditarod this year. Yuka Honda was not far in front of her, finishing just minutes ahead of Reitan.

Reitan finished with seven dogs in 13 days, 8 hours, 39 minutes, and 13 seconds.

32 Mushers Have Crossed the Finish Line - So Far

 March 17 - 9:35 p.m.

Just 11 sled dogs teams remain on the Iditarod Trail

A total of 32 teams have crossed the finish line in Nome in this year’s Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Official race standings show that Matthew Failor finished 30th at 8:51 p.m. on Thursday, followed by rookie Matt Paveglio at 9 p.m. and musher Karin Hendrickson at 9:05 p.m.

The remaining 11 teams are still on their way to the Nome, led by Riley Dyche, who left the White Mountain checkpoint at 8:06 p.m. Thursday. The remaining mushers are spread between the Koyuk and White Mountain checkpoints.

In all, six mushers have scratched this year. Lisbet Norris was the most recent to scratch, at the Unalakleet checkpoint with 10 dogs in harness at the time.

Iditarod 2022: Updates From the Finish Line

The race for third place in the 50th Iditarod is coming down to a duel between two mushers looking for their best Iditarod finish.

Brushkana’s Jessie Holmes and Chatanika’s Dan Kaduce left White Mountain midday Tuesday, with Holmes getting out at 11:35 a.m. and Kaduce leaving at 11:51 a.m.

Holmes has never finished better than seventh in the Last Great Race, a feat he accomplished as a rookie in 2018, while Kaduce has never finished in the top 10 in three previous races. Kaduce’s best career finish is 16th last year.

Richie Diehl and Pete Kaiser follow behind them, with Diehl leaving White Mountain at 12:50 p.m. Tuesday and Kaiser leaving 11 minutes later. Diehl has a best Iditarod finish of sixth in 2018, while Kaiser is a former champion (2019) with six total top 10′s in 12 starts.

Sass Claims Victory in 2022 Iditarod

 Sass claims 2022 Iditarod title for first time in the Last Great Race

Eureka musher holds off 5-time champion Dallas Seavey

NOME, Alaska (KTUU) - Brent Sass of Eureka finally got the monkey off his back Tuesday morning when he hit the finish line in Nome to win the 2022 Iditarod Sled Dog Race.

It’s the first Iditarod victory for Sass, a former winner of the Yukon Quest sled dog race that had been shut out of the win column in six previous tries in the Last Great Race.

Not anymore.

Sass passed under the burled arch on Nome’s Front Street at 5:38 a.m. Tuesday, led by a team of 11 dogs in harness. The veteran beat five-time and defending champion Dallas Seavey to the finish, depriving Seavey of a record-breaking sixth Iditarod title.

Read the rest here.

Iditarod Update: Almost a Nail-Biter

As of 05:25 Alaska time, Brent Sass is 90 minutes ahead of Dallas Seavey, and only a few miles from  the finish line in Nome.

Sass left the final checkpoint in Safety at 2:48 this morning. Seavey, the only other musher to reach Safety thus far, pulled out at 4:13.

Sass is still running with 11 dogs, while Seavey's team has shrunk to 7. 

In the absence of some unforeseen obstacle, Sass is expected to pull into Nome first sometime early Tuesday morning. It is unlikely that Seavey would be able to make up the approximately 20 miles of distance between them in the miles they have left.

The next top four mushers have made it to White Mountain, and the rest are scattered across several checkpoints.

Iditarod Day 9 & Update #1

March 13 - 6:17 p.m.

Leaders under 200 miles to Nome

Brent Sass is approaching Koyuk, only two miles away after traversing the sometimes dangerous sea ice of the Norton Sound. Second place musher Dallas Seavey is maintaining pace just 20 miles behind Sass as the pair prepare for the home stretch of the Iditarod along the southern edge of the Seward Peninsula, according to the Iditarod GPS tracker. Sass left Shaktoolik less than two hours ahead of Seavey. Sass left the Shaktoolik checkpoint at 9:18 a.m. and Seavey was right behind him, leaving at 11:04 a.m. for the Norton Bay sea ice.

“It’s not really that cold, to be honest with you. I mean it’s windy, but it’s not really that cold,” Sass told Iditarod.com on the Norton Bay ice.

The three mushers chasing Sass and Seavey are out of Unalakleet and headed for Shaktoolik, led by Aaron Burmeister with eight dogs. Richie Diehl is just three miles behind Burmeister with 11 dogs and Jessie Holmes is 12 miles behind Diehl. The mushers in places 6-13 have all arrived in Unalakleet, but have yet to leave. Sixth place musher Dan Kaduce is the only musher in the race to have all 14 dogs he started with still on his line.

Along the Yukon River, Apayauq Reitan and Yuka Honda remain in Ruby while rookie Kailyn Davis and Lisbet Norris are headed to Ruby from Cripple. Another 10 mushers have departed Kaltag for Unalakleet, six mushers remain in Nulato and seven mushers are at the Galena checkpoint.

Update: Brent Sass is already through the checkpoint at Elim. Complete standings may be found here.

Day 8: Update #1

March 13 - 10:21 a.m.

Sass speeds up the Norton Sound coast

Brent Sass has led the Iditarod for over 330 consecutive miles, and won another award late Saturday night as the first musher to lead his team into Unalakleet on the Norton Sound Coast. For arriving at the checkpoint first, Sass won the Ryan Air Gold Coast Award of an ounce of gold and supplies from Ryan Air. Sass then sped to and through the Shaktoolik checkpoint, and is currently mushing toward Koyuk. Sass still only leads five-time Iditarod champion Dallas Seavey by 14 miles, according to the Iditarod GPS tracker.

Sass checked in to Unalakleet at 11:32 p.m. Saturday night and spent just eight minutes at the checkpoint before he was back on the trail, according to the Iditarod standings. Sass then arrived at Shaktoolik at 9:10 a.m. and spent another eight minutes there before he was gone again. In his pursuit of the 2022 Iditarod title, Sass has spent less than 10 minutes in 13 of the 16 checkpoints along the trail thus far, opting to give his dogs more breaks along the trail that in checkpoints. The 12 dogs still on Sass’ line are more than any other musher in the top five.

Of the mushers chasing Sass and Seavey, only Aaron Burmeister and his team have reached Unalakleet, as the 14 mushers trailing Burmeister are all on the 85-mile stretch of Iditarod Trail between Kaltag and Unalakleet, but have yet to reach the Norton Sound coast. According to the Iditarod GPS tracker, Burmeister’s team reached the Unalakleet checkpoint at approximately 10:15 a.m. Burmeister is followed by Jessie Holmes 19 miles behind — who is racing — and Richie Diehl two miles behind Holmes who is resting.

Musher Dogs                      Checkpoint         Arrived                        Departed         Miles to Nome           Status

1. Brent Sass      12              Shaktoolik           3/13 9:10 a.m.                   3/13 9:18 a.m.     213                       Racing

2. Dallas Seavey 10             Unalakleet          3/13 1:22 a.m.                   3/13 5:38 a.m.      227                       Racing

3. Aaron Burmeister 9         Unalakleet          3/13 10:15 a.m.                 N/A                       261                       Racing

4. Jessie Holmes 11             Kaltag                 3/12 4:12 p.m.                  3/12 9:28 p.m.       281                       Racing

5. Richie Diehl    11             Kaltag                    3/12 5:50 p.m.               3/12 10:59 p.m.     283                      Resting

Iditarod Day 8:

Sass, Seavey rest dog teams along Iditarod Trail

Iditarod race leader Brent Sass is resting his team 40 miles out from the Unalakleet checkpoint, maintaining a 20-mile lead on five-time champion Dallas Seavey’s dog team, who is also resting. The pair of mushers have distanced themselves from much of the rest of the chase pack.

Seavey left the Kaltag checkpoint at 12:44 p.m. and ran his team for 37 miles before stopping to rest. Only two other musher — Jessie Holmes and Richie Diehl — has checked into Kaltag. Holmes has not yet left the checkpoint, and five other mushers are en route to Kaltag from Nulato.

Sass stopped over just after 5 p.m. along the trail to rest with just 299 miles between his team and Nome. Seavey’s chose to give his dogs a rest just after 4 p.m.

As the strategy of mushers deciding when to rest dogs and how many dogs they should keep on their line becomes more important, 7th place Mille Porsild and 9th place Chad Stoddard lead the top 10 with 13 dogs still leading their sleds. Aaron Burmeister — running in 4th place — and 8th place Mitch Seavey both have just nine dogs running ahead of their sleds.

Ryan Redington and Burmeister lead the group headed for Kaltag, and will arrive at the last checkpoint along the Yukon River shortly.

~ as of 6:45 pm yesterday. Stand by for updates.