It's fascinating. It seemed to happen overnight, and it's been happening for a couple of weeks. The temperature suddenly zoomed up--we're having consistent daytime temps in the 40s--and snow started melting ev-ery-where. 40 degrees feels positively balmy to everyone here right now. And we're all sooooo ready for spring. (Breakup is not spring, it's not winter, it's breakup.) We all immediately ditched our down jackets and are wearing as little as is comfortable (I'm in a hoodie + vest phase, but I've seen bare legs and tank tops already). I'm realllly looking forward to changing out my studded tires for my regular ones, and to the ability to get a car wash without fear of my doors freezing shut!
But breakup isn't all gloriously inhale-able air and comfortable clothes.
It's disgusting. Like I said, all the snow is melting. Streets and some sidewalks are now totally clear of snow (I just saw a strange procession of about 8 machines doing something to my street--cleaning/scraping the last bits of snow maybe) but that means huge puddles and mud all over the place. And where the snow isn't melted, it's muddy slush. The walkway from my driveway to my house is treacherous--especially when it gets down below freezing at night. Walking Olive is no picnic either (although I am excited I can do it in the morning without my wet hair freezing)... because she's so close to the ground, she's all muddy when we come inside. Dave's got some good photos of the general grossness around Anchorage.
Another sign of the impending season change is the Nenana Ice Classic. Every year, there's a contest to guess when the ice on the Tanana River in Nenana, up North kinda near Fairbanks, "breaks up" (the origin of the term "breakup"). They put a giant tripod on the river ice, attached to some sort of device that's triggered when the tripod moves a certain distance. Last year it happened on May 2. I didn't buy any tickets but I'll doubtless be waiting with bated breath for news of the results of this fascinating and legal contest.
I got in a last few winter adventures before this nasty melt set in--one last ice skate on the lagoon at sunset, and a snowshoeing trip in Hatcher Pass on a gorgeous sunny day:
Ladies' snowshoe troupe
Originally uploaded by t-dawg.
It's cool to compare my photos of Hatcher Pass in winter with these photos of the same area taken in September. Looks like different worlds! And now that the cross country skiing ain't so great, I've started training for the Mayor's "Midnight Sun" Marathon in June. Wish me luck...
In addition to lots of mud and slush, we also now have lots of light. We're now getting about 14 hours of sunlight, which is just about the same as when I arrived here at the end of August. It only really gets dark here at about 9:30. I really can't imagine what it's going to be like when it never gets really dark. A friend of mine told me that it's a sad day in late summer when you have to turn on your headlights for the first time.
Upon reflection, Alaska's breakup really is more like a breakup than I would have guessed.
"Look, winter. It's been a great 6 months. We've had some good times. We've skied, skated, snowshoed, and mushed, we've built igloos and had cocktails in ice glasses, and when it all got to be too much, we stayed inside and played Scrabble. But I'm ready to move on. I'm ready for camping and hiking, kayaks and tents, I'll trade city-bound moose for bears and beluga whales. But oh winter, can't we still be friends?"
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