Driving Instructions

Received yesterday via the usual means:

Yay, We're Number One!

Yesterday, the greater Anchorage area (along with most of south-central Alaska) had the worst air quality in the U.S.

Thanks to the wildfires burning/smoldering/whatever in all directions, we hovered in the "unhealthy" to "dangerous" category. It was like trying to inhale through a yarn ball, in between coughing fits.

Good times.

Earthquake Day +1

We're all safe. House sustained minor damage; looks like 80 or 90 percent of our dishes are destroyed. Lots of breakage, but it's just stuff, which can be replaced.

Several on-ramps and a bridge collapsed. Highways buckled, broke up, or fell into a sinkhole in multiple places. 

No serious injuries reported, which is a miracle from God. Too many messages to reply to right now, but THANK YOU, everyone, for checking on us.

Vine Road in Wasilla, AK; picture from KTUU.com

This is the off-ramp from Minnesota Dr onto International Airport Road in Anchorage. This guy has a story for his grandkids!

Sinkhole formed by liquefaction along the Glenn Highway a few miles north of us.

The Minnesota/International off-ramp again.

Our kitchen after the first round of 'quakes. The rest of the dishes fell a bit later.

Landslide Closes Seward Highway Near Girdwood

(ANCHORAGE, Alaska) – The Seward Highway is closed at mile 105 due to a landslide. The landslide occurred this morning at 5:50 a.m. and is estimated to be 4 feet deep and 75 feet wide. Water, rock and other debris continues to fall. Crews are currently focused on stabilizing the hillside above the slide area so they can work safely. Equipment is staged near the landslide and will be ready to clear the road once the slope is stable. At this time there is no estimate of when the road will reopen, but it is expected to remain closed for at least several hours. Updated road conditions will be posted at 511.Alaska.Gov. The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities oversees 242 airports, 10 ferries serving 35 communities, over 5,600 miles of highway and 720 public facilities throughout the state of Alaska. The mission of the department is to “Keep Alaska Moving through service and infrastructure.”

Midweek Potpourri

Ouch! That's Gonna Leave a Mark Dept: 

A woman injured by a piece of climbing gear in a fall was flown off Pioneer Peak near Palmer on Tuesday evening by an Alaska Air National Guard helicopter crew.

A report of a fallen climber who "had an ice ax lodged in her back" first reached Alaska State Troopers at about 9:45 p.m. Tuesday, according to an online dispatch. 

* * * * *

The First of Many Dept:
Morning temps below freezing, that is.

It was 36° at my house on the hillside, but 32 in the river valley below. That temp bounced around as I drove to work, reaching 39 at one location just outside of Anchorage.

The truck's thermometer reading dropped to 31 as I reached the district where my building is located, and the temp on the software which controls the HVAC shows 29.4° F. at the roof.

While the lows are supposed to be a bit higher over the next week, I guarantee you this: it won't be much longer before we look back at 29 degrees as the balmy last days of Fall.

* * * * *

Hedging His Bets Dept:

Anchorage Assemblyman Patrick Flynn knelt during the Pledge of Allegiance at Tuesday night's Assembly meeting, which he said was in solidarity with a national movement started by NFL player Colin Kaepernick to protest police brutality and social injustice.

Flynn also put his hand over his heart while he knelt and recited the pledge and also wore an American flag pin.

"Obviously I'm respectful of our community and our country, which is why I put my hand over my heart and knelt at the same time," Flynn said in a later interview.

I'm guessing he hasn't made any headlines lately, and so decided an empty gesture was the best way to garner some attention. I'm not going to say the first thing that went through my mind when I saw this headline, because I'd just have to repent all over again. 

It Was a Dark and Stormy Night

The winds, gusty all day yesterday, got serious about things sometime after 10 pm. We could hear the wind in the trees, and a general roar, all night.

This morning, it began to increase. There were some heavy gusts, and driving south into Anchorage was ... well, interesting. The wind was out of the south/southwest, and my truck took some coaxing in order to keep it between the lines.

Traffic was moving generally a little bit slower than normal, but not by much.

AccuHunch says the wind speed is gusting to around 70 mph at home, and Anchorage is experiencing 65 to 80 mph gusts, with occasional 100 mph bursts.

From the local newspaper/fishwrapper:

A major storm with predicted hurricane-force winds moved into Southcentral Alaska on Tuesday evening, causing widespread power outages through Wednesday morning.

Matanuska Electric Association was responding to an outage Wednesday morning affecting 3,300 customers between Wasilla and Willow/Caswell Lakes. The utility late Tuesday reported two small outages in the areas of South Birchwood and Trapper Creek.

The reports did not say whether the outages were caused by wind.

Residents in Fairbanks and North Pole reported power outages Tuesday night that Golden Valley Electric Association attributed to "a fault on the southern end of the Intertie" transmission line, according to its Facebook page.

Homer Electric Association said early Wednesday that power was restored to 649 customers after an outage in Kasilof. Ongoing Kenai Peninsula outages included 75 customers without power in Nikiski and 146 in the Funny River Road area.

We set out flashlights, lanterns, and oil lamps in preparation ... and so of course had no problems. :)

The Week Begins

As southcentral Alaskans pick up the pieces (literally), we all go back to work today.

The community of Kenai, some 80 miles due south of Anchorage on the Kenai Peninsula, seems to have gotten the worst of the damage. Broken gas lines, four house fires, open trenches forming in the middle of a highway, and other things.

The most curious thing is what's been found after the 'quake. Such as? Glad you asked.

In one office, every cabinet and desk drawer was pulled all the way out. In the neighboring room, one drawer was partly open, and the rest were undisturbed.

In my office, there are two visitor chairs in front of my desk. One was two feet away, in the middle of the room; the other hadn't moved.

In the mall near my home, one store was closed for hours as broken merchandise was cleaned out of the aisles. In the store next to it, nothing was amiss.


Aquariums around Anchorage exploded, most likely from the force of the water sloshing violently back and forth. Furniture was moved.

Dry wall cracked, here and there. But no serious damage has been reported, and that's a good thing.

But here's a good look at a place that wasn't quite as lucky: the Anchorage True Value Hardware store.

Snow at Last; Alaska is Late to the (Winter) Party

It took its sweet time, but a serious snowstorm is just moving into town.



Snowing sideways, wind chills below zero, and forecasts of 7" to 13" ... we should have had this weather a couple months ago. Before Thanksgiving, anyway. It makes the real Alaskans* a little twitchy.  Okay, a LOT twitchy.

If you want to see what a solid wall of blowing snow looks like (and I'm guessing most of you have seen too much of that already), here's another view, looking east:



That's not dark skies; just lots of snow sweeping down from the mountains a couple miles away.

I'm home now, having already brought in the mail and trash can. My wife & Younger Daughter will each arrive in the next 30 minutes or so; Older Daughter gets off at 5:30, and driving could be interesting by then.

But everyone has a four-wheel-drive (necessary, in Alaska) so I've no extraordinary concerns for their safety; just the regular kind.  :)

"Blustery" Doesn't Quite Cover It

Try "projectile debris":

Source: NWS

ANCHORAGE - TUESDAY MORNING UPDATE: 

The high wind warning in place for Turnagain Arm and higher elevations has been extended until 1 p.m. Tuesday with the National Weather Service warning of "projectile" debris and hazardous driving conditions within the warning area.

The Weather Service forecasts southeast winds of 30 to 55 mph with gusts of 65 to 75 mph. The winds will likely calm this morning before rising above warning levels again and peaking in the early afternoon, the warning says.

"People are urged to secure loose objects that could be blown around or damaged by the wind," the Weather Service writes.

Monday, Redux

I Told You So Dept: the weatherman told us what we already knew, this morning. The seasonal average snowfall-to-date is 29"; we've had only 10" this year.

By the way, you know how weather-folk are always telling us they have a 50% accuracy rating? Well, they do: it's the portion of the broadcast where they tell us the current conditions.

Upcoming weather? They're guessing, just like everyone else. Heh... {/snark}


We Always Talk About It But Who Knew? Dept:  It seems there will be a major motion picture filmed in Whittier, AK next year (about an hour southeast of Anchorage).

The film will be be directed by "Casino Royale" director Martin Campbell, executive producers said in Whittier. Hollywood trade publications have reported Gerard Butler ("300") is attached to star. 

The movie, "Hunter Killer," has been in the works for at least five years with the project once pre-approved for an Alaska film subsidy in 2012. Producers for the film said the project is now a reality, with about 90 percent filming to take place in the Alaska town of 229 people.

The thriller is based on the George Wallace novel "Firing Point," about a U.S. nuclear submarine that faces a Russian sub. The producers said they chose Whittier because the town resembles a Russian naval base. [emphasis added]

Anyone who's visited Whittier knows that while the mountains and bay are spectacularly beautiful, the buildings are ... less so. But a Russian naval base?

Ouch. :)


Disparity Much? Dept:  The price of a gallon of gas dropped suddenly to $2.99 in Eagle River and Chugiak (north of Anchorage). It was still $3.24 at the stations near my house, this morning.

Greed? Uneven distribution? A completely different distributor? Who knows? But it would sure be nice to see another twenty-five cents dropped from the price, locally.


And that's all I have, this morning. Thanks for stopping by, friends.

Winter Finally Visits Alaska

My wife and I took a drive up into the mountains this morning, just because, and then did a bit more shopping.  It's been snowing lightly all day, and we've received a few inches at best - but it's a month overdue, and we're a bunch of happy campers right now. There's more in the forecast over the next few days, too. That'll be nice.

With the temps dropping, and no snow cover to insulate the ground, the frost line would eventually get down below the 72" mark where our pipes are buried. That's what happened here in 2001, if memory serves.

That year, it didn't snow until February, and pipes were freezing or bursting all over south-central Alaska. Not pretty, trying to dig through near-permafrost.

But it's white outside, and that's all that matters today. Now we're pulling out the first of our favorite Christmas movies, and will put our feet up for awhile.

Y'all take care out there, and if your weather has warmed up, enjoy!

Lack of Snow Means No Skiing, Disappointing Thousands

Ski lift at Alyeska Ski Resort, 40 miles ESE of Anchorage

GIRDWOOD -- Brian Burnett, mountain services manager at Alyeska Resort, had some "very sad news" for Southcentral Alaska skiers and snowboarders Monday afternoon.

"No one should plan on skiing" this week, he said. The mountain that makes up the state's most popular skiing destination is still too brown to shred from top to bottom.

Historically, Alyeska sees at least a partial opening to the general public on Thanksgiving Day, but with little snowfall at the base and temperatures too high this year to make snow nearer the top, an opening appears unlikely this week.

The Old Farmer's Almanac long-range winter forecast said south-central Alaska would have a warm/rainy/icy first half of winter. The upside is that the second half is supposed to be unusually cold, with heavy snow.

That'll be a nice change of pace. 

A Short Drive in the Mountains

We headed north this time, and stopped first at the Arctic Valley Ski Resort.

At a wide spot in the road, on the way up.

Ditto

Looking 80 miles to the west toward the the snow-covered Tordrillo Mtns (10,300 ft elevation at highest point) to the left, and Mt. Susitna (the "Sleeping Lady", 4,000 ft, 40 miles west) on the right.

 

A closer view of the Tordrillos

A view toward the east, still heading uphill

the snow-covered peak in the distance, from the above picture

Later, we stopped at a favorite place: The Pizza Man in Eagle River.

When you're on the road, you must have road food. :)

After lunch, we drove on to Palmer, up the Old Glenn Highway through the farm country, and explored some back roads. Nothing beats a drive through mountain country with my wife for conversation. It was a good day.

And now, to put my feet up and watch Doctor Who.


Come to think of it, it was a very good day!

It's That Time of Year

Summer in south-central Alaska is a thing to behold. The greenery in early June is so lush that you'd think we lived in a rain forest. Summer typically lasts through September, and then things begin to change in October.

But what about this year?

We've been watching the first flocks of geese heading southeast (south would take them to the open Pacific) since late July. That's when the first few dead leaves began to fall.

Yesterday we noticed that the Northern Birch leaves are turning yellow. The honking of geese overhead is a daily occurrence.

Temps are starting to display an inconsistent pattern of cooler one day, warmer the next, with the frequent passing showers that are a hallmark of autumn here. Rain jackets are now part of "what we carry along" on trips out.



It's not fall here - yet - but it's not far away.

Life in Anchorage

A reader wrote to ask some questions about everyday life here in "the great land". That's what Alyeska means, by the way - an Aleut word the Russian explorers misunderstood and pronounced "Alaska".

Average annual snowfall here in Anchorage, located in "southcentral" (spelled locally as all one word), is around 65". That's not much, by some standards, but we frequently get more than that. Two years back, we had the heaviest snow since records have been kept - since 1915 - at about 149", officially. Here at my place, we measured as carefully as we could, and came up with 165".

The header picture, by the way, is the northern end of Anchorage. We're surrounded on almost all sides by mountain ranges. The Chugach Mountains, shown there, form the east side of town.

What does Anchorage look like, all up close and personal-like? Glad you asked.

Downtown, looking east

Lake Hood in summertime - the world's busiest floatplane base

A typical Anchorage neighborhood in winter

Chilkoot Charlie's, an old-time (and somewhat notorious) bar

The Glacier Brewhouse, a good eatery in downtown Anchorage

A graphic of southcentral Alaska, showing the general area & mountains - with luck, this one will enlarge greatly to show detail. Feel free to click!

Typical living accommodations - nearly 50% of Anchorage residents live in rental housing, and another 25% in condos.

The reader asked what time we turn on the Northern Light (snerk! - and yes, I know he was kidding). Truth is, they're often visible, but can't be seen in summertime because it doesn't get dark enough.

Average temps in July and August are daytime highs of 65, and ... well, here:

from www.anchorage.net

It's not unusual in January to have a week or more of temps below -20° F. at night. The coldest we've experienced in the last 10 years was -27°, during a cold snap that lasted about three weeks. Of course, by the third day I wasn't zipping up my parka, because it just didn't feel that cold. Our climate is rather dry, most of the time, and this part of Alaska actually qualifies as a sub-arctic desert, according to a guy at the Nat'l Weather Service who was interviewed on local TV some years ago.

Oh yes - if you ever visit Anchorage, be sure to visit the downtown visitors' center:

It Was a Year Ago, Yesterday

that I had my little mishap.

But if it weren't for that rollover, and the subsequent medical check-up, I'd never have known about the blocked coronary artery until an actual heart attack. Mysterious ways, and all that ...

* * * * *

In other news:

Air quality advisories remain in effect Thursday for Anchorage, Eagle River and the Matanuska Valley as cold, dry weather persists and gusty winds kick up dust.

The National Weather Service issued a high wind warning for the Matanuska Valley for 3 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday. Winds, with gusts up to 70 and 80 mph, will only dry out the area more, said Michael Kutz, meteorologist with the weather service.

The weather service also issued a "red flag" warning for "critical fire weather conditions" in the Matanuska Valley and on the western Kenai Peninsula from 6 p.m. Thursday to midnight Friday.

"The winds are going to be the problem, just whistling through everywhere," Kutz said.

Increasing winds may drive air quality to "unhealthy to hazardous" levels, said an air quality advisory from the Matanuska-Sustina Borough.

In Anchorage, the Municipal Department of Health and Human Services kept Wednesday's air quality advisory in place.

The Air Quality Program recorded an air quality index value of 120 Thursday. Air quality index values between 101 and 150 are considered unhealthy for sensitive groups, said the Municipal Department of Health and Human Services. People with heart and lung ailments should avoid dusty roadways.

Fire warnings, here, in February. This weird winter continues to amaze us.

Because You Like Alaskan Pictures...

I've been looking back at the thousands of pictures we've taken since moving here, to make some enlargements for my office. These are some of my favorites.

All these images should enlarge when you double-click them, but you know how Blogger can be. :)

Floatplanes at Lake Hood in Anchorage, the world's busiest floatplane airport.

Pike's Landing in Fairbanks, along the Chena River

The Igloo Motel, along the Glen Parks Highway near Denali National Park

Milepost at the Trans-Alaska Pipeline visitors' station, about 15 miles north of Fairbanks

Warning sign at the head of the Byron Glacier trail at Portage

Mountainside above the Byron Glacier

Humpback whales

Small boat harbor at Seward

Some of the mountains around Alyeska Resort at Girdwood

Ditto

The Chugach Mtns, along the east side of Anchorage

Hiking a nature trail out of Girdwood

Snowboard moguls & half-pipe at Alyeska Resort

Looking down from the top of Alyeska Mountain, toward the Turnagain Arm

Fish Lake, near Talkeetna

Little Susitna River, along the road to Hatcher Pass and the Centennial Mine

Looking down from Hatcher Pass toward the Matanuska Valley

Ditto

Chugach Mountains, on the north side of Turnagain Arm, viewed from Hope Road on the south side

Up close & personal with Mr. Moose, while he munches on a juniper bush

Floatplane taking off from Lake Hood in Anchorage