Photo courtesy of Brian Stoecker
A procession of vortices whipped the snow on Bird Ridge throughout the afternoon of Sunday, Jan.18.
A procession of vortices whipped the snow on Bird Ridge throughout the afternoon of Sunday, Jan.18.
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Photo courtesy of Brian Stoecker A procession of vortices whipped the snow on Bird Ridge throughout the afternoon of Sunday, Jan.18. |
By Brian Stoecker
Turnagain Times Correspondent
Near record low temperatures one week. Near record highs the next.
A pair of low pressure systems, originating in the subtropical Pacific, finally brought relief from the ongoing statewide cold snap, raising temperatures nearly 70 degrees in a scant few days. The transition was bittersweet. While Alaskans welcomed the heat wave, it also glazed the roads and trails, and released a smattering of ice and rock from the cliffs above the Seward Highway along Turnagain Arm. The accompanying chinook winds, nearing 100 m.p.h., toppled trees and damaged structures.
Heavy snow in the high country significantly increased avalanche dangers, prompting broadcast warnings concerning backcountry travel. One slide area along Avalanche Alley, a mile north of Bird Point, has now amassed its snow to the apex of the barrier between Penguin Peak and the Seward Highway. Since it’s completion several years ago, the “avalanche levee” hasn’t been significantly breached.
Nearer to sea level, rain and sleet transformed side streets, main roads, and sections of highway into sheets of ice. The treacherous conditions begged a query from Kristi Olsen, a Washington resident on holiday. “What do they use to plow the roads around here? A Zamboni?” Olsen’s ski-cation was “disappointing, but kind of exciting” as the tempest closed the lifts at Mount Alyeska.
Area trails fared about the same as the roads and communities. The heavily traveled, northernmost two miles of the Turnagain Arm Trail, was virtually impassable without crampons, due to a layer of glare ice. However, mile-2 through Windy Point (mile-9) was largely devoid of ice. The Bird Ridge trail was icy but passable.
A single small cottonwood fell across the Turnagain Arm Trail near mile-1, and a large spruce hangs over the Bird Ridge trail just beyond the outhouses. Both are easily bypassed. No such luck for the Indian Valley trail to Powerline Pass. Steve Gilles of Indian reported that eleven trees had fallen onto the trail in the first half mile. Upon reaching a final group of five downed trees, he determined his hike was over.
Chinooks frequently awaken an unlikely winter hazard: Bears. Bears don’t exactly hibernate. By definition, they “slumber”. Slumbering bears, equipped with monitoring devices, demonstrate heightened states of arousal when their den is approached. They may also awaken during a warming trend because of the temperature, or due to water pooling about them. Either was likely the impetus behind the steaming pile of bear scat, a mile north of the McHugh trailhead.
Portage Valley often suffers the strongest winds during a chinook. A Girdwood resident caught the brunt of one such gust while slowly driving toward the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel. Near the Placer Creek bridge, she said, “It blew me sideways across the road.”
In Whittier, a motorist stated that the wind caused his motor home to accelerate over the ice and into the guardrail–chinook.
Photo courtesy of Brian Stoecker
A procession of vortices whipped the snow on Bird Ridge throughout the afternoon of Sunday, Jan.18.