12/24/06 I'll see about a contrasting one tonight.
Posted on 01/04/2007 10:53:22 AM PST by george76
It's been snowing all day in Anchorage and it's still coming. A combination of snow, fog and ice contributed to more than 100 cars becoming stuck in ditches and snow berms across the city.
The Anchorage Police Department said accidents occurred at a pace of a collision every 10 minutes today.
A snow advisory remains in effect and the job of digging out is only beginning.
Midtown resident Linda Rinard just returned from vacation.
"I just flew in at 9:00 a.m. from Las Vegas; two weeks and sunny Las Vegas," she said.
Sherri Stein picked up Rinard from Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport and brought her to Stein's driveway. Rinard and Stein are among the army of folks with shovels and snow blowers digging out, but only making room for more snow to take its place. The constantly falling snow and fog make it difficult for drivers to see the road.
Some ended up stuck in a snow bank like Jennifer Alger.
"I was just driving down the road and everything all looked the same, just all white. And my tires caught the snow bank, just went right through it, so my car's completely stuck," she said.
The worst of the snow-related accidents happened on the Glenn Highway this morning. Five cars and two people were taken to the hospital. Traffic was forced to reroute on the Hiland Road exit.
Some of those in the ditch say they dove for it as they tried to avoid other cars.
"I just decided to get in the ditch rather than hit them in the middle of the road," said Shannon Overstreet, who was stuck in a ditch.
(Excerpt) Read more at ktuu.com ...
They have been plagued by the same drought as we here in the West... doesn't take many years for people to forget what a real winter is like .... or summer as evidenced by the reaction to a couple of years of hurricanes in the SE.
"Five cars and two people were taken to the hospital."
Hmm.
Cheechako is the first new word they teach you when you arrive in Alaska. Once a cheechako always a cheechako is the second thing they teach you. Sourdough is an additional title earned after an indefinite term doing indefinite things.
Nice pic! Looks like my place today.
Kee-rist it's white outside!
I think a Cheechako is an Inuit Macaca.
Weather is like sh!t, it happens.
12/24/06 I'll see about a contrasting one tonight.
I have been thinking of moving up there, but I want to visit Anchorage for a week in January/February first.
I figure if I can like it at it's WORST time, I should love it at it it's BEST time. Any advice you might have to a prospective citizen of Alaska?
By the way, I live in MN, so snow/digging out/long nights/cold isn't unknown to me. (Well, save for this year anyway...)
None whatsoever. If you have relatives already in Alaska it might help.
Body and fender, acute trauma, that sort of thing.
Consistent with an El Nino.
People are just careless and think they can gun it 55MPH on icy roads.
You've got LOTS of snow down there!
Same thing in the Yukon.
Used to be half a foot of snow and everybody would stay home. Not so now. We go, snow or not. Snowplows have to move fast or they'll get run over.
That might be true if only 1/3 of Anchorage drivers drove like maniacs no matter what the weather, but in actuality it's more like 3/4 of Anchorage drivers drive like maniacs.
This is expected. Warmer air and warmer ocean surface water yields more moisture evaporating into the atmosphere AND more moisture available to fall as snow or rain. Anchorage gets a mere fraction of the snow that Whittier on the coast gets. The increased moisture from the ocean made it over the peninsula or up the inlet and dumped on Anchorage.
That's because only 3/4 are on the road at any time. Traffic is insane in Fairbanks also. You'd think that with all of Alaska why would everybody want to be on the same few miles of road, but there they are.
Naw, the cold only hurts once in wallet the first time you buy the appropriate clothes.
Snow hurts the back every time it dumps.
Hmmm... Snow in Alaska in January. What next? I heard Hawaii was expecting another week of 72 degree temperatures.
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