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Southcentral Alaska walloped by yet another powerful winter stormIs this the winter of Mother Nature's discontent? Those living in Alaska have to wonder. It's like the poor old gal has gone schizophrenic. There really is no other explanation for the weather extremes witnessed in the north this year. Heavy snows, heavy rains, bitter cold, spring-like warmth, windless days, hurricane-force blows. Alaska has seen this all before, of course. There have been warm winters and cold winters, snowy winters and near snowless winters. It's just uncommon for so many to come in the same winter. And not once, but over and over again. The South Anchorage Hillside, which got about a foot of snow over the weekend, was buttoning down Monday night for another big, hurricane-force blow across the Chugach Mountains that National Weather Service forecasters were saying could reach 95 mph. Four such storms ravaged the area in December. By the time they were done, the near-record snows of November had been stripped away, along with the roofs on more than a few houses. The winds topped 100 mph. The temperatures went into the 50s. Trees toppled like dominoes. The white-cloaked Winter Wonderland of November died a stormy death. The Christmas season started looking as grim as Pine Tree, Vt., in the movie "White Christmas." And then it started snowing and snowing and snowing and snowing. Pretty soon, many were thinking "OK! Enough already! Turn off the snowmaking machine!" Only the snow kept falling. It fell especially hard along coastal Alaska just to the south of the state's largest city. Alaskans there started shoveling and shoveling and shoveling. In places, they couldn't keep up. The roofs on two commercial buildings in the coastal village of Cordova collapsed beneath the weight of snow. An emergency was declared. The Alaska National Guard flew in to assist. Getting there is not easy. There is no road to the port community. It has a jet-served airport, but the road between the airport and town was blocked for a time by an avalanche. The avalanches were coming down in many places. Skiers from the Interior city of Fairbanks bound for a competition in the port of Valdez, the terminus for the trans-Alaska pipeline, had to spend a night in a roadside lodge after a separate avalanche closed the Richardson Highway. "It's just epic down here," Annie Hopper, the owner of the Lodge at Black Rapids told the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. "Epic" was a term in vogue all over a state where the winter began with a mega-epic storm in the Bering Sea that attracted national attention and a presidential disaster declaration. An "Arctic hurricane," as some called it, swept through a sparsely populated region while the bulk of the state's residents, in the Southcentral Alaska region around Anchorage, enjoyed a November tailor-made for skiing. And 350 miles to the north, in Fairbanks, at the other end of what Alaskans call the "Railbelt," Interior resident shivered in bitter cold and encroaching darkness during that early November storm. Lows dipped past minus-40 and at one point looked like they might never rise. The community went for nearly a week setting daily record lows in succession. And then, as Anchorage was getting bombed with hurricane-force winds and rain in December, the cold snap finally broke in the Interior. "After a frigid November, Fairbanks basks in unusually warm weather,'' the Daily News-Miner proclaimed on Dec. 13. Within a couple weeks, the temperature was pushing 50 below zero once again. The wife of the outdoor editor of the local newspaper joined in the city's New Year's Eve run and froze her toes. Can you say "epic?"
Cordova is crying the blues with 15 feet of snow and yet Valdez with over 31 feet of snow so far this year is just tending to business. The difference is that the latest red herring was raised by the Cordova Fisherman's Union who have been complaining for years over many, many things. It's never their fault. Like no road to Cordova. I agree "ldwalaska", it's time for Cordovans to quit complaining and get to work. Look to Valdez, with over twice the snow, for an example of a small town that deals with deep snow every year. Average snowfall in Valdez is 27 feet. This year it might get close to fifty feet. Have you ever been to Cordova? Have you ever been to Valdez? If so, have you noticed the difference between the two cities? Valdez is spread out with a lot of flat areas. Yes, they get more snow and deal with it, but they have a lot more places to put it. Cordova is built on the side of a mountain and while they get a lot of precipitation, they are used to getting more rain than snow, so I'm sure Valdez has a lot more equipment on hand to deal with it. This just isn't your average snow. I think you should stop complaining. You might want to get a snowblower if you don't have one. And, if the snow load collapsed a roof or a building, somebody might want to check the standards to which it was built . . . I don't get it. What's the big deal? Alaska, winter, Alaska, winter. Sooooo . . . you get off your dead butt and keep the entry ways and the chimnys clear. One does not wait for "help" from someone else. No, Cordova has not lost its Alaska spirit. In fact, it is alive and well despite deplorable conditions. You're right, Valdez gets this kind of snow every year, they have the equipment to deal with it and places to put the snow that is being removed. Cordova has good equipment and as a result, almost never has a snow day for the kids, but this storm is immense and beyond anything they are used to dealing with. I think maybe you should look a little closer to home as to where the Alaska spirit is missing. Real Alaskans sympathize when others are faced with challenges rather than sitting back and criticizing them. You should add that the high winds make for white-out conditions as a foot of snow is moved from the hillside and deposited on West Anchorage. It is like a dust storm of the Southwest deserts. |
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