The migration routes of the Sandhill Crane. Map courtesy of USGS
Monthly Archives: January 2015
Coming from a fellow Series owner:
Nothing travels faster than the speed of light with the possible exception of bad news, which obeys its own special laws.
— Douglas Adams
Great Basin .44-40
An extremely weathered Winchester 1873 rifle was found in Great Basin National Park by archeologists conducting surveys. The rifle was found leaning against a juniper tree with it’s stock partially buried in the dirt. How long it has been leaning against that juniper is impossible to know, but it’s safe to say it has been there for a very long time.
It’s not hard to imagine why it went undiscovered for so long, the unloaded Winchester looks like it is part of the juniper.
According to the still visible serial number, this particular rifle was one of 25,000 Model 1873’s manufactured by Winchester in 1882. One could buy a ’73 back in 1882 for $25.
Photos courtesy of the National Park Service
Winter Bug
Flashback Friday Edition:
This is what you stumble across when trying to figure out what you need to do to drive that Bug sitting in the driveway during the winter months…
Clothesline
After being ejected, Mitchell Skiba of the Alpena Flyers forgets hockey’s number one rule: “Keep your stick on the ice!”
To be fair, Skiba had a beautiful check earlier in the game, that should also be shared.
A shout out to Thunder Bay Broadcasting for recording the video. Thank you.
Whole Lotta’ Shakin’
Alaska rattled its way into another record during 2014. The Alaska Earthquake Information Center recorded 40,686 earthquakes in Alaska in 2014. The previous high of 32,000 was attained in 2003; 2013 saw 28,000 shakers within Alaska.
Some notable quakes among the 40K:
• The Noatak-area “swarm,” a series that saw five earthquakes greater than magnitude 5 strike the northwest Brooks Range from April to June.
• A magnitude 7.9 quake in the Rat Islands on June 23, the largest in Alaska since 2002.
• A magnitude 6 earthquake under Seward Glacier in the Saint Elias mountains on July 17.
• Another magnitude 6 quake, this time in Palma Bay in Southeast, on July 25.
• The 5.2 magnitude earthquake near Minto on Aug. 30 that gave Fairbanks a jolt.
• A 6.3 magnitude quake near Skwentna on Sept. 25 that caused several buildings in downtown Anchorage, 80 miles away, to be evacuated as a precaution.
All information and statistics come courtesy of the AEIC.
Their site: http://www.aeic.alaska.edu
Official Warmth
The National Weather Service has officially stated what many Alaskans already suspected: 2014 was the warmest year on record for the state of Alaska. The figures are based on data gathered from close to 200 stations around the state.
McGrath, Nome, Kotzebue, Bethel, Cold Bay, King Salmon and Homer all saw their warmest year on record in 2014. Fairbanks saw its 4th warmest year on record, as well as its wettest summer.
In one of the most surprising stats, Anchorage for the first time on record, did not see the temperature drop below zero for the entire year!
That’s just crazy talk…
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