We hit the vernal equilux yesterday here in Fairbanks. That means the past 24 hours had 12 hours of daylight, and 12 hours of darkness.
Another 96 days until we start losing daylight here in the north.
Monthly Archives: March 2021
Alaska Railroad 2021
Rail service was just another casualty in Alaska from Covid-19. With no tourists last summer, rail service took a huge hit within the state.
The Alaska Railroad has already announced increased service on all of their routes. Service between Anchorage and Fairbanks will double: 2020 had only four trains per week, while 2021 will see a total of eight. Every day of the week will see either a northbound or southbound run, and Sundays will see both.
Flagstop service will return to the Anchorage-Fairbanks route, which allows riders to get on or off anywhere along to route to access remote cabins and homesteads. The Alaska Railroad is the only train service in the United States that still provides flagstop service.
Running the Moose Gauntlet
The hockey game was between periods, and I had to make a quick run over to the neighbor’s. I turned the corner from my front walk, and was looking right into the shoulder of a cow moose. “OH! Hello.” I reevaluated my route, and took the long way around the cow. I was guessing there was a calf close by, but hadn’t seen it yet. The cow seemed to anticipate my rerouting, because she was waiting for me when I popped back out, but her ears were not laid back, so I scooted by, and made my way next door.
On my way back, the calf had come out onto the narrow road to join the cow. I still would have been fine, but a snowmachiner chose that moment to drive by. The rider spotted the cow, and stopped even with the unseen calf. Then another snow machine came up and stopped, but both engines were idling. That was too much for the calf, who started to panic, which caused mom to get edgy. The two moose then took my long route back to my cabin, so I tried to make a quick go at the short route. The moose beat me. I hesitated, then made a break for my front door. Mama Moose was not impressed, and tried to cut me off, but a huge spruce blocked her way.
She spent the next 30 minutes at the end of my walkway, just daring me to come back out, but I had college hockey to watch, and the moose had already caused me to miss 10 minutes of the game as we played tag.
Climbing The Great One
For the first time in 70 years, no one climbed Denali in 2020. In an average year, 1200 climbers attempt to summit the tallest peak in North America, with around 58% being successful.
The National Park Service has announced that climbing permits have resumed for 2021. So far, most applications have been for domestic climbers, with the number of requests from foreign climbers being down from normal years.
This was certainly good news for businesses in the Northern Susitna Valley, which provides everything from transportation to The Mountain, as well as supplies and accommodations for the climbers.
Saving Daylight?
Leave it to @Climatologist49 to map out what all Alaskans are thinking today.
The length of day in Fairbanks for today is 11 hours, 38 minutes. A gain of 6 minutes and 44 seconds from yesterday.
Ice Alaska 2021
The World Ice Art Championships are back at Ice Alaska in Fairbanks. The event is a competition in single, double and multi ice block carving. The work is always stunning, and impressive. This year is no different. These photos were taken on a beautiful 30F plus degree day. I’ll try to get some night shots later in the event.
March in Alaska
The Nenana Ice Classic:
The Nenana Ice Classic tripod was raised on the Tanana River this past weekend. The Ice Classic is our annual event, where residents and visitors can guess when the ice goes out on the Tanana. This is the 104th year of the event. Tickets are $2.50 per guess. The ice thickness as of Sunday was 44-1/2″.
The 2021 Iditarod:
The Last Great Race is seeing a lot of changes for Covid-2021. The race will not end at Nome this year, due to Covid concerns. In fact, to protect villagers, mushers will not be venturing into communities like in a normal year. Due to the new route, which is now an 850 mile long loop, teams will race to the ghost town of Flat, and return to Willow.
There was no ceremonial start in Anchorage this year. The 46 mushers and their teams went directly to Willow for the Sunday morning start time. Press accounts have the crowd at starting line at 300 visitors, mostly family and dog handlers. In a normal year, there would be at least 6000 cheering the teams on.
Veniaminof goes Orange
Mount Veniaminof, which is located on the Alaska Peninsula, erupted last Thursday. The ash plume that exploded from the volcano did not reach 10,000 feet. Veniaminof last erupted in the fall of 2018.
Mount Veniaminof is a rather active stratovolcano, having erupted at least 14 times in the past 200 years. It is surrounded by a 25 square mile ice field. According to the National Park Service, the glacier is the only one known in North America with an active volcano at its center.
As of 7 March, Veniaminof continued to show an ash plume via satellite imagery. Mount Veniaminof rarely shows itself for the camera. The volcano is visible only one or two days a year, the rest of the time, Veniaminof is shrouded in clouds and fog.
Gaining Daylight
March is one of my favorite months here in the Interior. The temps (usually) are at least above zero during the day, there are (usually) outdoor activities galore throughout the area, and the length of daylight is jumping at clips of around 7 minutes a day.
Currently, the length of day is at 10 hours, 49 minutes, with visible light hanging around for 12 hours and 26 minutes. By the last day of March we will be seeing the length of day at 13 hours and 33 minutes.
Warmer than normal temperatures are forecast for the remainder of the month for much of Alaska. Fairbanks is right in the normal to above normal range. Much of the Lower 48 looks to be trending below normal in temps for next couple of weeks. Only time will tell how close the forecasters hit the target.
Judging from how active and vocal the birds are around my cabin, I think they are looking forward to spring.
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