Thursday, December 08, 2005
Snow Eater
A chinook wind a.k.a. “Snow Eater” blew into town and did its thing the last two nights. It has removed about 12 inches of snow and brought the thermometer up to 43 degrees early this morning. Not bad for a good night’s work. The house was really rocking and rolling there for a while. At six this morning CNN gave the wind speed here at 7 mph. Wrong Up on the hillside here it was still gusting at about 30+ mph. The warm weather predicted for the rest of the week is enough to warm the cockles of my heart and the soles of my feet. The strongest wind recorded in Alaska was 159 mph. Although at Portage Valley a few years ago the wind gauge was up to 149 when it broke. The official record for Anchorage is 56 mph although I read somewhere that in 2002 gusts were recorded up to 100 mph. High wind speeds are very common in east Anchorage where we are. Not quite up to par for Mt. Washington, NH but certainly nothing to sneeze at. For the record it was 9 degrees warmer this morning than Houston and 34 degrees warmer than Portales, NM.
A chinook wind a.k.a. “Snow Eater” blew into town and did its thing the last two nights. It has removed about 12 inches of snow and brought the thermometer up to 43 degrees early this morning. Not bad for a good night’s work. The house was really rocking and rolling there for a while. At six this morning CNN gave the wind speed here at 7 mph. Wrong Up on the hillside here it was still gusting at about 30+ mph. The warm weather predicted for the rest of the week is enough to warm the cockles of my heart and the soles of my feet. The strongest wind recorded in Alaska was 159 mph. Although at Portage Valley a few years ago the wind gauge was up to 149 when it broke. The official record for Anchorage is 56 mph although I read somewhere that in 2002 gusts were recorded up to 100 mph. High wind speeds are very common in east Anchorage where we are. Not quite up to par for Mt. Washington, NH but certainly nothing to sneeze at. For the record it was 9 degrees warmer this morning than Houston and 34 degrees warmer than Portales, NM.
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Merlin’s MagicAccording to tradition Fata Morgana (Morgan le Fay), the sister of King Arthur was an enchantress trained by Merlin in the art of changing shapes. She supposedly lived in a castle beneath the sea but sometimes she would make this castle appear in the air. Her name is now attached to a unique type of mirage that can only exist where there are alternating layers of hot and cold air near the surface of land or water. The mirage itself is a composite of several combined images one of which is inverted beneath the other(s). The fata morgana is fairly common in Alaska, especially here on hillside as is seen in this picture of Mt. Redoubt Volcano.
Sunday, December 04, 2005
Moose tales!
The bears have finally gone into hibernation here. So no bear stories until after the spring thaw. Moose, however, do not hibernate. This last week the Anchorage Daily News took advantage of two photo ops. One featured a moose in a back year with just one antler (half a rack)—the other having fallen off a few days or hours earlier. The second captured a moose at the drive through lane of a Burger King munching on a mountain ash. Not quite as newsworthy as the moose that wandered into the emergency room of the hospital back in the summer. Norway has its own moose problem. A warm summer produced lots of fruits on trees, which was followed by early snowfall. Apples that were beneath the snow began to ferment and proved irresistible to the local moose crowd. The authorities have had to put out a drunken moose alert for the southern part of the country. Another Norway news item related the bizarre story of a moose that fell on top of a car. It seems that the moose came to a cliff and just kept walking. Thunk! Right on top of the car below. Probably a DUI. Too many fermented apples. Maybe the moose here in Alaska back in the summer was just looking for the detox unit in the hospital.
The bears have finally gone into hibernation here. So no bear stories until after the spring thaw. Moose, however, do not hibernate. This last week the Anchorage Daily News took advantage of two photo ops. One featured a moose in a back year with just one antler (half a rack)—the other having fallen off a few days or hours earlier. The second captured a moose at the drive through lane of a Burger King munching on a mountain ash. Not quite as newsworthy as the moose that wandered into the emergency room of the hospital back in the summer. Norway has its own moose problem. A warm summer produced lots of fruits on trees, which was followed by early snowfall. Apples that were beneath the snow began to ferment and proved irresistible to the local moose crowd. The authorities have had to put out a drunken moose alert for the southern part of the country. Another Norway news item related the bizarre story of a moose that fell on top of a car. It seems that the moose came to a cliff and just kept walking. Thunk! Right on top of the car below. Probably a DUI. Too many fermented apples. Maybe the moose here in Alaska back in the summer was just looking for the detox unit in the hospital.
