It's still snowing!

We woke to cloudy skies, surprising considering how clear it was last night. Then between 9 a.m. and 11 or so, there were some fat flakes falling. The clouds were thin, however, I was able to see faint blue patches here and there. By 11:30 there were some large openings of blue to the east and north east. Above is Penguin early. You may not be able to see the flakes against the structure in the bottom left, but notice the snow curl off the roof. That will give you an indication of how the temperature has been combined with the damp slippery snow of recent days.

Talking to family in the mid part of the country, they are always amazed that it is snowing already. Even though some of the family we talk to on a weekly basis, they have been told it started snowing in October, they seem to forget. As with any subject you know well, like the weather here, you forget that others don’t. We are so caught up in the subject and see it day-to-day we just think everyone knows the subject like us. That is one reason for putting this little ditty on-line. I want to help visitors and friends from Anchorage get a sense of the difference just a 45 minute drive makes. And a bunch of huge mountains too!

I can see the outline of Max’s better this morning than the past few. The top is looking good as you could see from Alyeska’s Top of 6 webcam. The middle is so-so, I still see lots of alder. But the snow cannons were going full last night and are on again today. I heard the howitzers go off, don’t know if they are still training or mitigating. Either way its a good thing. 

Today we are helping Girdwood Fire and Rescue conduct EMT I testing. My husband is a proctor and I will play victim, again. Yes, I did it for last year’s class and we helped the Whittier EMT program, so I have developed a great victim acting skill set. The Fire Department has one of my favorite snow gauges, the picnic table out front, check it out.

Another favorite site in the winter is the Girdwood Playground. The castle motif plays off well against the mountains. Here are some spires and Raggedtop.

Looking down Glacier Creek toward the Turnagain and Mount Alpenglow in the distance. Still pretty cloudy in that direction. Maybe we will get some more snow and not be laden with 4 inches of hoar frost today.....currently it is 20°

At 4 pm it started to lightly snow again. Just goes to show, it is really hard to predict the weather around these mountains and in this valley. Everyone is happy for the snow, and the temperature is great 19-20° making the flakes nice and dry. Good temperature to keep the snow cannons going as well. Keep up with the resort's mountain report to be sure opening day will be in fine condition. The timing wasn't so great on this post, I am trying to work on getting it on in the morning....