Lee- Our local paper called our attention to hundreds of "bumper car" incidents, with melting snow flooding onto iced streets...even our bus systems shut down for more than 75% of the last three days. It's 52 degrees out today, sunny, and my spouse is thinking of planting bulbs if the ground thaws much more! -Don
> Date: Sat, 17 Jan 2009 14:43:45 -0600 > From: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > Subject: [ENTS] Re: Arctic blast and insect pests > > > Don: > > We don't get Chinook winds in MN--our snow won't melt for quite some > time. However, intrusions of warm moist air from the Gulf of Mexico > disposed of 2 feet of snow in southern Wisconsin in a few hours when I > visited my brother at Christmas. These warm humid air masses are getting > further north as time goes on, in a few decades they will start to reach > Minneapolis, and we'll lose our snow at midwinter. > > Studded snow tires are not allowed in Minnesota, and last week the Twin > Cities were the world's largest bumper car arena, because the entire > highway and street system was covered with black ice from the > condensation of auto exhaust, and it was too cold for salt to work. > Commute time were 2-4 hours to get 5-10 miles. I take the bus to work, > which has its own lane, and it was fun to zoom right past the traffic > jams and accidents and watch 2 million people in cars bumping into each > other on ice as slippery as a skating rink. > > Unfortunately, they applied several tons of salt per road mile so that > the ice would melt as soon as temperatures got above zero. Thats a > bummer for trees--we'll have a lot of dead roadside trees in the spring. > > Lee > > DON BERTOLETTE wrote: > > Don/Lee- > > I had been holding off on any Alaska weather reporting, as we're known > > for cold weather. Now that the weather we had until Wednesday is now > > upon you guys, the following conditions were reported over the last > > week in the Anchorage Daily News: > > > > *1)* Last Monday, the record low for the state was -68degrees F. > > That's about the temperature that gasoline turns to a gelled slush > > that could be picked up with a colander > > *2)* Last Tuesday, the record for averaged low over two weeks in > > Anchorage was -22degrees F, with clear skies through most of that. > > *3)* Last Wednesday, we experienced a chinook (warm winds emanating > > from near tropical latitudes) raising even night time temps into the > > 30s and daytime into the 40s, ABOVE ZERO for a 48 hour change > > approaching 60 degrees in much of Anchorage. > > *4)* Last Thursday, the 24-30" of snow we had on the ground for most > > of the winter, has pretty much been melted (certainly off the roofs > > where we had 12-16" packed snow), making for slippery roads (schools > > have been closed for three days now), and significant flooding of > > streets in town, and fears of crosstown creeks overflowing soon) > > *5)* Today, I drive to our Egan Convention Center, where I'm a > > volunteer 'pourer' for the annual Great Alaska Beer and Barleywine > > Festival (50 craft brew beer vendors, offering over 200 craft beers, > > barleywines, and meads)...I've chosen the early shift, to avoid being > > on the roads by late evening...;>} > > *6)* Tomorrow, a low pressure system is coming in that is even > > stronger than Wednesdays...through the last three days, wind warnings > > ranged between 40-85 mph through Turnagain Arm and the upper hillsides > > of East Anchorage, with gusts predicted to range between 85-105 mph > > (Alyeska, our world class ski resort a half hour from Anchorage, > > recorded a 122 mph gust at Chair Six). > > > > In terms of driving, our Subaru Forester with studded Hakapeliita 2 > > snow tires easily takes us to places we can't walk on, without some > > sort of studding for the shoes/boots. > > > > This has all been with a backdrop of predicted 'colder winter than > > normal', and a 'warmer summer than normal'...here in Alaska where most > > of us believe in Global Climate _/*Change*/_ !!! > > Time to hunker down~! > > Don RB > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > > > > > _________________________________________________________________ Windows Live™: Keep your life in sync. http://windowslive.com/explore?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_t1_allup_explore_012009 --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org You are subscribed to the Google Groups "ENTSTrees" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
