An ice skating winter?

Day 8 of frost and today its thick. The ice fog last night really put a layer on everything. It makes me really happy when it clears out because we get this gorgeous alpenglow in the morning! Here you can see it on Penguin Peak and Raggedtop. Last night’s glow under the moon at dusk was really lovely in Anchorage as well.  

Our weather forecast is still lacking in snow. This got me wondering what the big picture is so I went to digging around on NOAA’s website. Here you can see as of November 26th, the jet stream is not in our favor. NOAA also creates a three month climate prediction seen here. I learned that we are and will be experiencing below average temperatures (no kidding!) Sadly their projection is average to below precipitation. I will choose to look at it this way, sounds like this winter will be great for ice skating! And speaking of, yesterday there were several folks enjoying Potter’s Marsh with their skates on! If you are venturing out to Alyeska Resort, they too are preparing the pond for skating this year. 

Here is Max’s with its sunny halo. Now, if the Aurora would just work with all these cloud free nights.....

Update at 3 p.m.

This afternoon in pursuit of the frost build up on trees near the Seward Highway, this scene presented itself as much more interesting. Looking down Toadstool Dr toward the Arm, these layers of clouds are super fine.

Turning toward the north to see if Penguin is visible, I get a mixed answer. Yes there is a kiss of sunlight on its shoulder, but look at the fog bank hugging it. Temperature here is 12°.