Climate Change and Environmental Stewardship Study, Number 5: Bacardi in Ice, Day 5: Pelted by rain

Yes, that's right, rain. The weather has gone nuts.

This morning on Facebook, a friend posted that the temperature in Nuiqsut had risen to 32, with heavy rain and winds of 55 mph. Nuiqsut! Many of you were with me on September 15 when I boated into Nuiqsut from Cross Island with the EMN Crew in a light snow storm. The snow stuck. The temperature dropped into the 20s, then teens.

Mid-September.

Historically, one would have expected the temperature in Nuiqsur to then basically stay below freezing until mid-May, with a warm day this time of year being about -5 F and a cold day -40 or so.

I took this picture at about 4 PM. It was hard to do because the rain was splashing all over my iPhone and it was pretty dark. Now, the rain is turning to snow again. According to the forecast, Wasilla could be flirting with the zero Fahrenheit Mark in a day or two. By then, I should be in Barrow – weather permitting. 

Text added at 5:08 PM. The Squarespace nightmare continues - day 50 and counting.

Scary drive home: we watch for falling moose and bears

"It's raining cats and dogs!" So exclaimed Jobe, after we walked through the morning rain from Abby's to the Ford Escape and I strapped him into his car seat. Kalib had to do him one better. "How about it's raining moose and bears?"

It was a scary drive home - not only did we have to worry about the ice with a film of water on it that covered the road, but we had to watch real close for any moose and bears that might be falling from the clouds.

If one had struck us, it surely would have smashed the car.

Text added at 4:45 PM. (Absent minded me. I thought I had added it right after I added the text to the previous entry). The Squarespace nightmare continues - day 50 and counting.

Boys step out onto porch to see… Rain!

We slept late. The boys wanted to come to Abby's, so I opened the door and they stepped out to see… Rain! On snow… means ice on road… the slipperiest kind of ice…

Text added at 11:31 AM. The Squarespace nightmare continues - day 50 and counting.

Before it can even get cold, it warms up again

Last week, I posted a picture I took less than 100 yards from here of a boat in the middle of ice and everything freezing up - behind schedule, but finally freezing up. Now everything is warm again. Last night, we could hear the wind howling, blasting in from its origins in the South Pacific. In some places The wind hit 105 mph. Early in the fall, it looked like we might get an early winter. Now, I am beginning to wonder if winter will ever come at all this year. Before this year, several seasons had passed by without any water running through this culvert. There has now been water in this culvert since break up last spring, but not always this deep. Even during our hot, hot, summer weather there was water in it. Last night's warm wind brought warm rain and now there is even more water in the culvert.

Text added at 12:42 PM. The Squarespace nightmare continues.

The Daily School Bus: Caught at an intersection in the rain at the very beginning of the day

Well here I am, at 8 AM about to enter the parking lot to have breakfast at Abby's Home Cooking. I had already begun my turn when I saw this school bus headed down Church Road past the intersection ahead. There was no traffic behind me, no traffic coming at me. I stopped, right here, not quite off the road, not quite into the parking lot and quickly tapped three frames. Hence we have the Daily School Bus at the very beginning of the day.

I am taking a chance and am posting this from Abby's Home Cooking. If Squarespace strips the picture out, I will add it back in once I return to my house and office.*

Sent from my iPhone

*This post has been sitting picture-less for an hour-and-forty-five minutes. It did not take me that long to return my office, but I had other matters to attend to. Well, it's an hour-and-forty-six minutes. Jim keeps placing one paw on my track-pad, which causes everything to stop in my computer until I remove his paw. So he has slowed me down a bit. Well, one-hour and seventeen-minutes now.