Snowfall breaks record

Juneau's snowfall record for April 17 was buried under more than a half-foot of snow Thursday.

The National Weather Service recorded 7.5 inches of snow Thursday at its Juneau International Airport weather station. The record had been only 1.1 inches, received on April 17 in 1948.

The storm that started Wednesday night dropped a total of 10.5 inches at the airport, 12.5 inches at the service's Juneau office on Mendenhall Loop Road, and 9 inches downtown.

Early Thursday morning, 10 inches of new snow was reported at the base of Eaglecrest Ski Area, which is closed for the season.

Juneau has seen double the average amount of precipitation so far this month, according to meteorologist Brian Bezenek. Through Thursday morning, 3.39 inches of precipitation had fallen in April, and the historical average is an inch and a half. Temperatures also have been cooler than average, Bezenek said.

Dry weather was predicted through this weekend and potentially into next week. A high pressure system centered south of Kodiak Island is expected to dominate the weather, but a marine stratus layer could build and create partly to mostly cloudy skies by early next week. Precipitation is not forecast, however, until possibly next weekend, Bezenek said.

While he called this week's storm "a little odd" for this time of year, Bezenek said such weather is not that unusual during springtime in Juneau. In 1963, for example, a storm dropped nearly 40 inches of snow at the airport during the first few days of April.

The service's long-range forecasts show slightly below normal temperatures through May and June, with normal precipitation. Spring is typically the driest time of year in Southeast Alaska.

While it has been snowing in wide areas of Western Washington today and last night, no measurable amount has fallen at Sea-Tac airport.

The latest “official” snowfall here is/was April 17th, 1972.
It was 36 when I woke up.

I went to get some wood pellets for my stove but the place I went to was out - normally, this time of year, I’d be taking care of my tomato plants, not buying wood pellets.

Freakin bummer!

It is no longer GLOBAL WARMING..its now called GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE.

You see? Its all about words. We just have to “believe” and thats all that matters.

Wacko freaks the whole bunch. They used to tar and feather flim flam artists. I wonder when someone will get the guts to tar and feather Gore in public. I’ll supply the rail to ride him on.

Wacko freaks the whole bunch. They used to tar and feather flim flam artists. I wonder when someone will get the guts to tar and feather Gore in public. I’ll supply the rail to ride him on.

Now, that's the kind of passion I like to read. However, the Enviro-wackos are in charge of the country, so what's to be done? We have our "elected representatives" that have sold out, so other than take our rage to the streets, what's left?

It IS going to take action though...

Yesterday was opening day at Yellowstone National Park. It was also my son's 25th birthday. I took my wife and two oldest sons for some opening day adventures. The buffalo along the west entrance road to Madison junction look emaciated. Lots of very bony rib cages. Our first stop on the ground was at Norris basin. We walked around the north loop. The snow on the boardwalks was about 1 foot over the top of the guard rails. It was a fairly tedious walk. We continued south toward the back basin. The top viewing platform at the Steamboat geyser had snow all the way up to the guard rails. We were already tired after trudging through the deep snow to get that far. We opted to return to our vehicle and drive north. At Mammoth, the elk were laying all over the lawns that surround the public buildings. They were grateful for any exposed grass to eat. Most were hardly skittish about people or cars. Food was most important. We continued north to Gardiner, MT where we had dinner. The fields and hills between Mammoth and Gardiner were covered with Pronghorn and elk.

Today, we went south to Old Faithful. More emaciated bison were evident along the path. Again, the snow on the boardwalks was even or higher than the guard rails. We took a fairly short walk around the upper geyser field. Previous to that visit, we also walked around Midway geyser basin. The snow was over the guard rails on the way up. The walk around Grand Prismatic Spring was fairly easy. A narrow melted path was open on the boardwalk. A similar situation was found at Biscuit basin. The boardwalk is mostly accessible there. Fountain Paint Pots had too much snow and the parking lot was still closed.

This year's opening day was certainly marked by a lot more snow on the ground. We were spared snow and wind during our visit, but an inbound storm is expected to dump between 8" and 3 ft of addition snow in the next couple days.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.