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03/21/2007: "Would you like snow with that?"
Well, overnight we reached the new seasonal snowfall record for Juneau: 194.6 inches!
And it happened essentially on the first day of spring....hoooray!
Now it's raining and we have massive piles of melting snow everywhere and drainage culverts clogged with snow and ice so there's a very high flood warning, *and* a high wind warning...not to mention *extreme* avalanche danger.
From the Southeast Alaska Avalanche Center's Juneau Urban Avalanche Advisory: "We do not normally use the fifth point of the U. S. scale, but on those rare occasions when avalanche danger is so high that is essentially off the scale and widespread large natural avalanches are probable, the designator is EXTREME (black). Being anywhere near avalanche terrain or runout zones is not recommended."
Some good friends of mine live directly in the path of an avalanche chute in downtown Juneau. I was supposed to go to a St. Patty's party at their house on Sat. but I was still feeling run down from the crud. They (and their neighbors) have been warned to prepare to evacuate or to relocate until the imminent danger passes. Check out this photo from the Juneau Empire, of an avalanche in that area in 1972. WOW!
In an hour or so the DOT will fire shots from the Treadwell Mine across Gastineau Channel to the west slope of Mt. Roberts to trigger avalanches along Thane road (an area without residential development) but the road provides access to Juneau from people who live in Thane. Here's a photo of an avalanche occuring on Thane road.
Anyway, never a dull moment when you live in the Last Frontier.