Winter in the North Country is a humbling and dominating force. Its unsympathetic and relentless ways build stamina in the strong, and kill off the weak. Every plant, animal and human must adapt to the low light, low temperatures, ice, snow and wind of the cold season.
When people travel to Alaska during the summer, I believe in order for them to fully appreciate the character of the people, wildlife, and scenery, they should have a good idea of what winters are like. Currently we are enjoying a nice warm spell. We deserve it, as we have experienced numerous blizzards, high winds, and record cold since early November. Here is some footage of my wife and I helping our friends dig out from the latest round of storms in Homer.
Here is some footage from the November 2011 Super-storm in Nome. Can you imagine? The very scary reality is that these storms, which are catastrophic to residents and wildlife, seem to be stronger and more frequent as a result of climate change. It doesn’t seem much like global warming when you watch this, but it is frightening nonetheless.
Waves crash across the road on the Homer Spit and freezes on frigid Christmas Day. A snowplow was deployed to clear ice and debris.
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