Tuesday Morning, May 5

Good morning!

It's back, folks. Mt. Redoubt is "likely to erupt" in the next few days, the experts say. Here's the current Observatory statement:

2009-05-05 07:16:34
Seismic and rockfall activity increasing. Explosive eruption likely in coming days; could occur at any time with little or no warning.

The growing lava dome is becoming increasingly unstable and should a dome failure occur it likely would result in a significant explosion producing high altitude (>30,000 ft ASL) ash plumes, trace to minor ash fall in parts of south-central Alaska, lahars in the Drift River Valley, and pyroclastic flows in the immediate vicinity of the volcano.

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Today is the mayoral run-off election in Anchorage; we'll see if we can get a fiscal conservative elected to the office for a change. He garnered 43-point-something of the vote last month, but it takes a 45 per cent majority to be elected. His opponent has been lying (why doesn't that surprise anyone?) about the good guy's supposed plan to implement a large sales tax.

He did say that he'd support a sales tax if it would replace the property tax on a dollar-for-dollar basis. When he found out it would take a 14 per cent sales tax to do that, he dropped the idea. His opponent (who'd like his name mentioned here) continues to talk about it as if it were still in discussion. Naturally, we must scare the voters in order for the other fella to get enough votes to win.

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It's 33 degrees this morning, which is just about normal. We've had overnight "lows" in the upper 40s and low 50s for the last several days, but the jet stream has obviously shifted. The forecast is for 55 degrees today, just a few degrees above normal. The sun is already shining, though, so how bad can it be?

I'm off to cast my vote. Have a great day, folks, and come on back!

Wednesday What-not

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!

A Crowded Field, or, Too Much is Never Enough

A record field of 15 candidates has signed up to run for mayor of Anchorage this spring. Read about it here.