Crazy Weather

This is crazy weather for Homer, with temperatures hovering around 40 for the past 2 months. Rain every day is not fun. What this looks like on the ground is ice. At some point it snowed, melted enough to turn into ice, and then rained on the ice. The rain is cold so rather than melting the ice, it adds to the ice, getting thicker with each rain. Today I saw the borough truck go by three times sanding our road.

In the past few days it has alternately rained, freezing rained, sleeted and snowed--with that mix happening one right after the other. My daughter is new at the winter driving scene and I have found myself praying a lot lately, particularly as I already went off the road back in October and we were out of one vehicle for nearly 2 months while it got repaired. I know how backed up the collision shops get:  months. My advice to her has been to never hurry to get anywhere and don't worry about the impatience drivers behind her. The important thing is to get there safely.

So while the side roads in Homer are covered with ice, the main roads in town are clear. But one never knows what temperature fluctuation in a particular spot will result in ice, so caution is the word at all times, in all places.

Icy, icy, icy driveway leaves me scooting carefully

My son told me last night while researching his Caring for the Kenai science project that the average temperature in Alaska in the winter has risen by 6.4 degrees over the past 50 years* (about 3 degrees warmer in the summer). Like I told him, Six degrees lower would be snow now rather than rain. Unfortunately the winters will be wetter and the summers drier according to the article, which translates into more ice and less snow in the winter. As my husband said, "I don't know if I want to live in Homer if it's the banana belt. Maybe we should go to Georgia. I hear it's cold there right now."

*Denver's source can be found at http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/impacts-adaptation/alaska.html.