Havin' a heat wave..

The snow is melting and the temperatures are warming up.  Yea!!  I am finally getting the snow and ice in my driveway under control.  Forecast looks pretty good:

Weather for Juneau, AK

33°F | °C

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

Light Rain

Wind: SE at 5 mph

Humidity: 100%

39°

32°

41°

36°

41°

34°

43°

34°

Everyone has been saying that we have had a lot of snow for this time of year.  And after a little research, it appears true.  NOAA reports month-to-date snowfall of 48.9 inches, normal is 12.5 inches, and last year at this time Juneau had only 1.9 inches of snow for November.
Haines, just north on the ferry route from Juneau, has received record snowfall lately and it looks like more this week:

http://www.chilkatvalleynews.com/story.asp?Story=1942&Record-snowfalls-wallop-town

Weather for Haines, AK

26°F | °C

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

Clear

Wind: W at 12 mph

Humidity: 88%

27°

18°

32°

25°

32°

23°

31°

27°

 

It's all good!!!

Juneau Public Market 11-25-11

Juneau's version of Black Friday is the Public Market.  I fought the crowds for a bit and found a few gits items.  It really wasn't that different than markets I have been to in Canada and even Texas.  YOu know, the jams and soaps and glass and pottery and knit items and calendars and jewelry.  But it was a nice experience.

http://juneauempire.com/stories/112808/loc_361083079.shtml

A red-tailed hawk was being shown in the Raptor Room.  I didn't even notice the cool picture on the handler's shirt! 

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was spent at the home of a friend, with her husband and another friend from work.  They are renting an awesome house on the northern tip of Douglas Island, and these pictures were taken from the window facing north.   In just a few hours the tide went out and land began appearing.  They say at low tide you can walk across the water to the Juneau airport.  The Mendenhall Glacier is in the distant right in the lower area between the mountains, kinda visible.  Even though it was cloudy and snowy on the south side of the house, the sun actually came out to the north and we could see the mountains.  So pretty.

The afternoon was a lot of fun - the traditional turkey feast was wonderful, the company was great and we even made snow angels in really deep snow!  Hope yours was a memorable day as well.



Taken at 1:30 pm




Taken at 3:00 pm

z

I'm dreaming of a white Thanksgiving!

And my dreams came true!  Not sure I ever had a white Thanksgiving, except one year when I celebrated the Canadian Thanksgiving in Canada.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!  We have so much to be thankful for.

Not much has changed since yesterday...it just started snowing again.  This is the forecast:

Weather for Juneau, AK

32°F | °C

Thu

Fri

Sat

Sun

Light Snow

Wind: E at 12 mph

Humidity: 79%

30°

16°

34°

30°

36°

14°

36°

36°

So the forecast calls for snow, light snow and snow showers.  My sisters and I were wondering what the difference is.  I never knew:

Snow showers come from the same kind of clouds that rain showers do-- convective cells. Snow on the other hand comes from more stable clouds like stratus or strato-cu, which is more conditionally stable.

Showers can bring instantly huge amounts of precipitation in a short period of time. Light snow can accumulate too but over a longer period of time.

Snow flurries generally indicate a paucity of moisture and therefore you only see scattered snow flakes. This can happen as a cold front passes and the air is relatively dry.

Source(s):

Meteorologist Mike Scott

Snow, and more snow

I noticed something interesting today.  Early this morning in the dark when it was snowing; at lunch when it was light and it was snowing; and again this evening when it was dark and still snowing...I heard seagulls.  Lots of them down at the water.  Freezing cold, mountains on either side of the water, and the seagulls are calling.  Not used them in cold weather.  I have seen them in Canada but not in the winter.

Anyway, it has been snowing to beat the band.  I saw a forecast of 1-2 inches today, but when I got to work a coworker said the forecast was 13 inches by 1:00 pm.  Her forecast became reality.  I have shoveled snow 4+ times today, and it keeps coming down.

Here are some videos of the current state of things in Juneau.

Happy Light



Love the picture on the box!  :)


With the days getting shorter, a lot of people are using their Happy Lights more to counteract, appropriately enough, the effects of SAD - Seasonal Affective Disorder.  Just use 15-30 minutes a day!

Happy Light 'on'







It warmed up enough to snow

It snowed last night.  This morning I shoveled snow and ice out of the driveway for 1 1/2 hours before going to work.  Then I put a bag of ice/snow melt down and this is what the driveway looked like at lunch.  It's the cleanest it's been for over a week. 

This is a view of my street looking north, house on the left.

The mountain is so pretty, so is the neighborhood.

Roof snow

I thought the way the snow/ice hung down from the neighbor's roof  was pretty amazing.  Nice collection of icicles too!

Something changed in the weather forecast...

...from what I posted two days ago.  It is cold, and will be colder tomorrow with an estimated wind chill factor of 20 below zero (-20).  We were laughing at work about how we hope it will warm up so it will snow!

Weather for Juneau, AK

17°F | °C

Fri

Sat

Sun

Mon

Mostly Cloudy

Wind: SE at 8 mph

Humidity: 49%

18°

9°

14°

3°

30°

16°

33°

27°

This is unusually cold for this time of year.  The information that I and others saw about Juneau weather before we started this project was like this statement from rssWeather.com:

Juneau's coldest month is January when the average temperature overnight is 20.7°F. In July, the warmest month, the average day time temperature rises to 64.3°F.  Average temps:

Month	Low	High
Jan	20.7°F	30.6°F
Feb	23.5°F	34.3°F
Mar	27.8°F	39.5°F
Apr	33.4°F	48.1°F
May	40.1°F	55.7°F
Jun	46.1°F	61.6°F
Jul	49.2°F	64.3°F
Aug	48.3°F	63.1°F
Sept	43.8°F	56.1°F
Oct	37.7°F	46.9°F
Nov	28.9°F	37.6°F
Dec	24.4°F	33.0°F

Not complaining, just saying...it's really cold for this time of year!!   I even bought one of those hats with flaps over the ears and a puffer coat - LOL!!

Where's Pepper?

I knew it was going to happen one of these days.  This morning as Pepper was doing her business in the back yard, she disappeared.  She had gotten too close to the end of the yard and slipped down the hill.  My back yard is elevated and has steep slopes on the left and back to neighboring yards.  It was still dark, and I still had on my jammies and slippers so did not rush through the ice to see where she was.  I could hear her crunching around and she finally emerged way at the end of the neighbor's yard.  Pookie was all over her like "where have you been?"  She was unharmed, but now none of the dogs want to go into the ice-covered snow.  That's a problem...

Diagram 1:  Side view of my back yard and the slope down to the house in front (towards the channel/downtown Juneau)    The 'P' shows where Pepper went down...

_Back yard___P
                          |
                           \______Neighbor down the hill_


Diagram 2:  View from the house of my back yard and the slope down to the house on the left - The 'X' shows where Pepper came up

                      _____________P__
__X________|
Neighbor's         My house

Winter storm warning cancelled

Instead of snowing all night, it rained.  Apparently a warm air mass made it farther north than expected.   It's 33 degrees this morning, so the snow is melting a little bit and the roads are easy to drive on with the slush.  However, this is the warmest it will be for a few days, according to the forecast below, so the real challenge comes when all that water on the road freezes.  A real test for the studded tires!

Weather for Juneau, AK

33°F | °C Wed Thu Fri Sat Rain and Snow Wind: SE at 18 mph Humidity: 96% 33° 22° 25° 15° 23° 15° 28° 16°

Winter storm warning

More snow on the way...

http://juneauempire.com/local/2011-11-14/round-2-winter-storm-hits

Daylight Savings Time

"Fall back" in Juneau really accelerates the darkness in the evening.  I guess I should say afternoon.  :)

Rising and setting times for the Sun

Date	Sunrise	Sunset	This day	Difference	Time	Altitude	Distance
							(106 km)
Nov 15, 2011	7:46 AM	3:38 PM	7h 52m 25s	− 4m 15s	11:42 AM	13.2°	147.964
Nov 16, 2011	7:48 AM	3:36 PM	7h 48m 13s	− 4m 12s	11:42 AM	13.0°	147.932
Nov 17, 2011	7:50 AM	3:34 PM	7h 44m 04s	− 4m 08s	11:43 AM	12.7°	147.901
Nov 18, 2011	7:53 AM	3:33 PM	7h 39m 59s	− 4m 05s	11:43 AM	12.5°	147.870
Nov 19, 2011	7:55 AM	3:31 PM	7h 35m 58s	− 4m 01s	11:43 AM	12.2°	147.840
Nov 20, 2011	7:57 AM	3:29 PM	7h 32m 00s	− 3m 57s	11:43 AM	12.0°	147.810
Nov 21, 2011	7:59 AM	3:27 PM	7h 28m 07s	− 3m 53s	11:44 AM	11.8°	147.781

Interestingly, the daily difference decreases until winter solstice on 12/21, then starts increasing again.  So the loss of daylight is slowing down...good thing!!

The snow came down the mountain...

and is slowly moving up the cars and house!  :)

The parking lot at work

Back yard

Snow heighth at noon on 11-14-11

My street at noon on 11-14-11

What I woke up to this morning...

It snowed all night, and was a winter wonderland when I got up at 5 am.  Or so I thought.  I have a lot to learn about how to deal with snow.




 

First, I should have shoveled my driveway immediately.  I was pointed out of the driveway, so the Suburban made it out OK, but got stuck halfway in the driveway when I came home at lunch.  I shoveled some, but I fear it is too late.  Have to wait for the melt now, which looks like it will be a few days before it is above freezing.  


The dogs are hysterical in the snow, and don't quite know what to do.  The snow was up to their neck this morning.  They are getting used to it already though.   The really like running in the road where the snow has been packed down.

Back yard



 I also need some new tools.  I was not prepared for all of the snow on the car.  My ice scraper was inside the truck (note to self) but I had a small squeegee that was somewhat helpful.  My first thought was to use something that would not scratch the paint, so I grabbed...wait for it...a wooden spoon.  When I got to work they were are talking about brooms and snow brushes - I bet those work better.  :)

Front driveway



It snowed all morning and afternoon. A bunch.  I only THOUGHT there was a lot of snow this morning.  The driveway was SO much higher by the evening.  As I said, I have LOT to learn about handling snow.  More tomorrow...our total snowfall for this storm is estimated at 18 inches.



Snow!!

It snowed overnight the last two nights, but yesterday (Saturday morning) it turned to rain and the snow on the ground turned to ice.  This Sunday morning it is still snowing pretty good.  It is 34 degrees, however, and a lot of it is turning to slush in the road.  From what I understand, this pattern is repeated from now until April.  Fun!

Through the back patio door

<>

View from the front window

Compare to the last posting on the clear day!

Happy Beautiful Veteran's Day

With the "epic storm" on the Alaska west coast in the news, it is interesting that we have had some beautiful days lately, especially today.  It is now 35 degrees, clear and crisp.  Not supposed to last long, but I am enjoying it while it lasts...

Downtown Juneau in the background

My sincere thanks to all who are serving or who have served to protect our wonderful country and our freedom.  God bless you, and God bless America!!