Thompson Pass is closed!
For the first time this season, the pass into Valdez has been closed due to snowfall. It seems there is a bit of wind too: 85mph, with gusts up to 120mph.
On average, Thompson Pass receives 550 inches of snow a year. It holds the Alaska record of snowfall in a 24 hour period at 62 inches, and the record of snowfall in a season at 975 inches. When the East Coast gets that, I’ll cut them some slack…
Anyone who moves to Valdez is one crazy bastard, no doubt about that.
Halloween 1991: 28-1/2″ of snow fell on the Twin Cities from one winter storm. I was reminded of this when the East Coast found themselves in an early Winter Wonderland over the weekend. I think Duluth received over 3 feet of the white stuff from that same 1991 storm. I remember going deer hunting in Northern Minnesota right after that storm. The woods were intensely quiet that weekend, but it was an extremely enjoyable hunt just the same.
Interior Alaska has 2-3″ on the ground right now, and temps reached a high of -12 today where I was at.
