Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Ahh, here's the snow

We got a bit of snow back in October, but after several weeks without snow, with high winds, and with below average temperatures, hardly any of it was left. Here are a few pics I took on the Elliott Hwy during my Fairbanks trip last week, it's definitely not normal to be able to see so much of the grass and trees in December. And we're losing light fast, I barely had enough time to make the drive in during daylight... these pics were taken at NOON on a "sunny" day.






Well, it looks like Mr. Snow finally figured out where he was supposed to be, because we're currently being dumped on. Ripley is in heaven.




And it doesn't look like the snow will be stopping anytime soon:


Screenshot of Wunderground.com Forecast for 12/12/12
It's been snowing since early yesterday morning, and this morning the weather observatory at University of Fairbanks noted a record 24-hour snowfall of 4.1 inches... beating the previous record of 3.0 inches this day back in 1991. The major factor in this winter storm is warmer weather (above zero), as it is too cold to snow at lower negative temperatures.

As a result of the extended period of cold weather without a blanket of insulating snow, river ice depths throughout the area are higher than normal... the ice on the Tanana River at Manley is currently reported at 33 inches.

6 comments:

Misty Pines Homestead said...

Oh my and people complain about the snow here or even when it gets down to 40 degrees lol.It's been cold here in Texas for the last 3 nights it's been in the 20s.We had a dusting of snow the other morning.Those pictures really are something,it looks really cold there.Hope you and yours and Riley are staying warm up there.

Plickety Cat said...

LOL -- it's actually WARM here... that's why it's snowing.

Warm, of course, being relative :) But it was 40 BELOW last week and now it's 10 ABOVE... that's 50 degrees warmer, and downright balmy. We actually did firewood duty in just our jackets today.

Of course, we'd die if it got over 100 in the summer... since we start roasting when it's over 70 :D

Jim Lister said...

Supposed to be 50 degrees in Wasilla today, Dec. 30, 2012 - how crazy is that ???

Misty Pines Homestead said...

HEY,hope that earthquake didn't rattled ya'll too bad!!!

Plickety Cat said...

All the recent quakes in the Interior have been little (less than mag 2) and miles away from us. The only thing noticeable about them here at our place is when Ripley freaks out a little. Of course, the Northern Lights and trucks and planes also freak her out (and sometimes she's just velcro dog for no reason) so it's hard to tell ROFL

Misty Pines Homestead said...

Velcro dog yeah I got one of those too.We live right next to a Air Force base and every thurs.and fri.they like to explode old ammo ver there.It shakes our trailer so bad and poor orion finds the tightest places to hide.Once I couldn't find him and he was in the bath tub of all places and shaking like a leaf.When think when he was a puppy he heard guns going off and he remembers that.I just hug him and tell him it's ok.Glad you two are alright then.