Above freezing yesterday – and that’s not a good thing this time of year. The ground is cold, and water freezes out of the air as frost, making things very slippery. As far as I’m concerned, warm weather can wait for March or April, when there’s some chance things will stay warm and the snow will actually melt. Right now, with the winter solstice only two days away, it just means more ice.
Waiting for a left turn, looking south near solar noon. Yes, that's ice on the road.
Sunrise this morning will be at 10:57, and the sun will set at 2:39. Not much time to fit a little shopping around my doctor’s appointment, as we have only 3 hr 42 minutes of daylight, with the sun getting no more than 4 times its own diameter above the horizon. Sunrise, sunset and length of day are changing by only seconds a day, now, and by Thursday the days will be getting longer again. The winter solstice is definitely time for celebration as things turn around!
The forecast is for slightly above normal temperatures for the next week, but not much snow. Too bad, as we could use more snow. I haven’t been bothering to photograph the snow stake, as it seems stuck on 9”. I did, however, get a couple of photos Saturday: one of the pink and blue of the trees this time of year, and another of driving conditions.
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Gorgeous tree pics.
Just slightly too warm is actually worse than too cold. When I lived in So. central PA, we frequently had overnight snow that partially melted during the day, then refroze at night. Not everyone was conscientious about clearing their walks, so some sidewalks might have six, seven layers of ice on them – some only one or two, some none. Every walk was an adventure, and if only I had a dollar for every time I landed on my derriere.
Sidewalks? Wait — we have a bike trail starting a tenth of a mile from where I live, but this time of year only snow machines and the occasional dog team use it. And the gravel road gets scraped down a little, but we rely on the gravel poking through the ice for traction.
Love this! So many people don’t have any idea what life is like in the winter that far north. My friend and her family just moved up to Fairbanks from Anchorage this year, and even THAT is a huge transition for them. You guys are tough up there!
That’s why I blog every Monday about the weather up here — to try to give people a feeling for what it’s like to live up here.