Anchorage Nearing Solstice

People frequently ask about the winter darkness in Anchorage.  The shortest (darkest) day of the year in the northern hemisphere is this Friday, December 21. We're actually more than a 500 mile drive south of the Arctic Circle.  And we have a fair amount of light, even on the shortest day. 

Yesterday the Anchorage Daily News said our official sunrise was 10:11am and the official sunset was at 3:40pm, but at this latitude we have very long twilights (if it's clear.)  The sun at noon is very low on the southern horizon at noon. 

Here's my shadow at 1pm today.   Time and Date says the solar noon yesterday was at 12:56 pm and the altitude of the sun was 5.6˚.
See table below for more details.

Here's the southern horizon at 4:45pm, over an hour after the official sunset time.

I remember being in Hawaii with our kids watching the sunset over the ocean and  warning them it would be dark in ten or 15 minutes and they were really amazed at that.

So, even though the official "total daylight" was listed in the paper yesterday as 5 hours and 26 minutes, we had more than an hour of twilight before sunrise and after sunset giving us seven hours and a half.  Of course, that's not true if it's cloudy in which case it gets dark very fast.

I love the soft velvety blue of the winter evening sky.  And even though it was around 0˚F yesterday, walking around in the clean, crisp air was totally invigorating.  (I didn't play with the colors of the photo, it's really that color. The trees a little off white due to the street light tint.) It is helpful to be properly dressed though. 

Here it is as background to this icy birch with the crescent moon caught in the branches.  It's about 5pm here.








Here's a post-sunset view of the Chugach mountains from Rasmuson Hall on the University of Alaska Anchorage campus.  Looking east here through the glass which caused the darker shadow on the upper left. 

The paper also says we lost 50 seconds of daylight Monday from Sunday.  For a while we were losing over 5 minutes a day, but we're slowing down as we get to the end of the earth's tilt and then we'll start to tilt back.  Soon we will be gaining time quickly again.


From Time And Date:

The December solstice occurs when the sun reaches its most southerly declination of -23.5 degrees. In other words, it is when the North Pole is tilted 23.5 degrees away from the sun. Depending on the Gregorian calendar, the December solstice occurs annually on a day between December 20 and December 23. On this date, all places above a latitude of 66.5 degrees north (Arctic Polar Circle) are now in darkness, while locations below a latitude of 66.5 degrees south (Antarctic Polar Circle) receive 24 hours of daylight.

Time and Date also calculates our sunrise and sunset schedule for this week a little bit differently from what the Anchorage Daily News has:

			Length of day		Solar noon
Date	Sunrise	Sunset	This day	Difference	Time	Altitude	Distance (106 km)
Dec 17, 2012	10:12 AM	3:41 PM	5h 28m57s	− 49s	12:56 PM	5.6°	147.204
Dec 18,	10:12 AM	3:41 PM	5h 28m19s	-37s	12:57PM	5.5˚	147.191
Dec. 19	10:13 AM	3:41PM	5h 27m54s	-25s	12:57 PM	5.5˚	147.179
Dec. 20	10:14AM	3:41PM	5h27m41s	-12s	12:58 PM	5.5˚	147.167
Dec. 21	10:14AM	3:42PM	5h27m40s	<1s	12:58 PM	5.5˚	147.157
Dec. 22	10:15AM	3:43PM	5h27m53s	+12s	12:59 PM	5.5˚	147.147
Dec. 23	10:15AM	3:43PM	5h28m17s	+24s	12:59 PM	5.5˚	147.137

HTML Tables

				Data from Time and Date.

Fall's Hanging On, But Winter's Already Claimed the Upper Hillside

It's definitely fall in Anchorage, with winter having already made a preview appearance.

The geese are packing meals for their flights south. 

The cottonwood leaves cover our back yard, though, if you look closely, the amur maple leaves are still on the tree (on the right.)  The come out later in the spring too.

Up at Powerline Pass, the snow we had in town stuck.  This was Sunday evening. 

Winter Preview

It looked like this when I got up this morning. Light snow was still falling.

But by the afternoon it was back to fall. Our first snowfall in Anchorage 35 years ago was on September 29. I remember it because it's my father's birthday. He'd be 101 today. Happy Birthday Dad.

I remember back then getting in the car and deciding to test the brakes while I was going slow. We'd moved up from LA and I only remember driving on snow once - in Yosemite with chains on. So I pushed down on the brake hard to test them - I wasn't going more than 4 or 5 mph - and the back end went in one direction and the front in the other. I was ready to drive down to Western Airlines and get tickets back to California right then. I didn't realize I wasn't supposed to push down so hard on the brakes. That first year we soon had studded tires on the van and learned to go with the snow. Eventually driving in snow and anticipating which way the car would skid became fun. And then came ABS (anti-lock breaking system) which changed everything.

Lake Otis Sidewalk/Bike Path Ends, Forcing Me Into The Street

Finally running again yesterday, I decided to bike to an evening meeting that wasn't far off.  The bike path along Lake Otis was cleared, a little messy with loose snow, but doable if you like adventure.  I can understand why some cyclists move into the street. 

But then I got north of Northern Lights.  Cross the first street and then the trail/sidewalk abruptly ended.  It just stopped and there was a big pile of snow.  I thought maybe the trail would pickup again. 

But no, there was a 2-3 foot high berm the rest of the way with one set of six inch deep footprints on top. 

There was no other place for pedestrians or bikes except the street. 


Lake Otis and Tudor is one of the busiest intersections in town.  This is less than a mile north of there and there's no place to walk or bike except the street. 

When the traffic light back at NL was red, there was a pause in the traffic where I was.  I slipped into the street and went down the hill, past the Chester Creek bike trail, then up the hill.  At least my rear bike light was flashing so the cars knew I was there when the light changed and theycaught up with me. Fortunately the traffic was light enough that they could all pass me in the left lane.  At the top of the hill I turned right into the neighborhood where I was headed. 

Snow plowing started out fine this year, but quickly deteriorated.  I know there's been a lot of snowfalls - there's another inch this morning.  But this is a major street and pedestrians shouldn't be forced into the streets. 

Winter Roads Make Winter Trails All That Much Better

It began snowing about October 30, and I've been able to get in at least twice a week workouts shoveling new snow. I don't remember so much snow so often. The result is that our street is getting narrower. Some of us have been able to carve out parking spots, but most of the street space is now three to four foot high berm - five or six feet wide. People are parking creatively.






After ten days of film festival, I was ready to for bit of a walk, so I took some books back to the UAA library.  Here's the biketrail/sidewalk cut out of the snow. 

Driving the last few days has been as bad as I can remember. (It could be dementia that I can't remember that well.)  The car rattles along the street.  Walking across it was easy to see why.  Lots of random ice humps.  I guess the heavy snow followed by warm followed by cold again allowed for some artistic freezing designs.  And terrible driving conditions. 

The snow plow guys must be exhausted and frustrated.  They've done a pretty good job getting our street cleared, but not picking up the snow.  And now the streets are awful. 










But walking the bike trails on campus is going off into a winter wonderland.

Pear, Satsuma, Apple, Cabbage, Kale, Carrots Leek, Cucumber

I picked up our Full Circle Farm box today.  All those fruits and vegetables to perk up a grey December day.  To remind me that the solstice is two weeks away, and then the days start getting longer. 

"Its fruit is sweet and usually seedless, about the size of other mandarin oranges (Citrus reticulata), smaller than an orange. One of the distinguishing features of the satsuma is the distinctive thin, leathery skin dotted with large and prominent oil glands, which is lightly attached around the fruit, enabling it to be peeled very easily in comparison to other citrus fruits. The satsuma also has particularly delicate flesh, which cannot withstand the effects of careless handling" [Wikipedia]

More Snow - Natural Exercise

 I believe that the more natural exercise - physical activity that accomplishes some necessary task, like digging the hole for my insulation in September, and not just exercising to exercise - the better off we are.  The number of people who drive to the gym to work out, or take the elevator when they could take the stairs point out the irony of our times. 

Mother Nature is helping out this week.  I shoveled about 4 inches of snow out of the driveway yesterday and this morning I was greeted by another 6.  But the light snow doesn't have the heft of a shovelful of dirt, but tossing it does work on a back muscle.  And it didn't take more than ten minutes.  But it got me out in the cool fresh air and moving my body.

It helped, more psychologically than physically, that my neighbor had cleared the sidewalk at the bottom of the driveway for me.  


(This post is mainly for people in places like  LA or Honolulu who don't get to shovel snow, or who grew up in snow and now live in one of those snowless lands.)

First Snow

It's not an impressive snow. Just a very thin covering. But it's here and there will be more.

Lingering Signs of Fall as Winter Approaches

Rain drops washing fallen mountain ash leaves the other day, 

but the sun's out again. 

Not all Canadian geese have left for warmer climes.

 And the water flows freely along Campbell Creek as it tumbles wildly under one of Anchorage's most busy roads - the New Seward Highway.   Cyclists have to negotiate the rocky banks to get past this spot still,  but a memo from Rep. Berta Gardner tells us that a real bike path is scheduled here by September 2013.

 The Seward Highway Upgrade Project, Dowling to Tudor, will also go to bid in October with groundbreaking in spring 2012 and scheduled completion in September 2013.  We continue to confirm that sound barriers along the freeway are included in the plan, as well as the long-awaited connection of the Campbell Creek Bike Trail under the Seward Highway.   This connection will give neighborhoods safe and easy access between east and west portions of the trail, opening up miles of trail to surrounding neighborhoods.

"We continue to confirm" sounds less than certain.  And I've ducked my head negotiating my bike over the rocky and sometimes wet path under the highway often enough that I might just miss it when it's paved and civilized here.  And will it be open the year they are building?  Who knows?

But we can be certain that winter is on the way.   It's the end of October and so far the snow's stayed in the mountains.  But the word is creeping into the weather forecasts for us lowlanders.

Solstice Not So Short When Sun's Out - Photo Shop Fun

Original A








Colored Pencil filter with red and yellow.









Colored Pencil filter with light blue and white.

Top picture cropped with colored pencil filter yellow and red.

This is Original A above, using liquefy in filters and then adding the colored pencil filter. 

Why Cars Kill About 160 Moose a Year in Anchorage

We were coming home from Scott Turner Schofield's performance of parts of his book "Two Truths and a lie" at Out North tonight and the car in front of us turned soooooooooo slooooooooowly at the green arrow onto Northern Lights.


You can really tell who doesn't have studded tires, I was thinking.  Then as we were almost home another car put on his right turn blinker (that's good) and then turned into a cartoon slow motion car for half a block before the turn.  Then J said - there's moose.

 I was barely moving when the car turned right to reveal a moose and calf barely visible in the dark.    You can see why so many get hit.  Or maybe I should say you can't see.

I'm always amazed at how these huge brown animals can blend so well into their surroundings.  I've passed moose while jogging and not realized they were there until I sense something there, and look over to see one eating ten feet away as I pass.  It was a good thing the car in front of me took so long to turn right and I was barely moving.

Winter, finally

Thanksgiving Day

The wimpy snow followed by rain we've had haven't pushed us into a proper winter, but it looks like we're there thanks to a couple of Thanksgiving inches.  It finally looks and feels like it should. 

This first picture was on Thanksgiving Day.  The rest were today.

The bike path plow is busy near the new light on 36th at MacInnes.  I was skeptical about yet another light to slow down traffic on 36th.  Then when one of the traffic guys said, at a community council meeting, that most vehicles on MacInnes will now probably have to wait longer than in the past.  Time tests showed traffic breaks without the light came more frequently than the light will change.  GRRRR!  Once a few loud people get a project in queue it won't come off even when it doesn't make sense.  Maybe they could set the light so it will blink yellow on 36th and red for MacInnes most of the time, and then have the light when the traffic is really heavy between 4pm and 6pm when UAA is open.  But I'm not holding my breath.  It also means cyclists who want to cross at this point have to wait three minutes for the light to change or break the law.  Not good traffic policy.

Anchorage Closed Due to Ice

The advantage of living in Anchorage is supposed to be that we get snow and cold enough weather that it stays until spring and we don't have to deal too much with ice.  But that's been changing.  Here it is almost December, it's raining, and the streets are covered with wet ice. 

 

 

 

This is what if feels like when your feet find a slick patch.

But my grippers yesterday kept my feet on the ground.

And where they spread gravel on the ground it's a lot easier.

Not everything is closed.  People are driving slowly and most 

places are open including the airport.

UAA Career Fair, Peace Corps, Army, Cloud Rip, Snow Biking, Hunger, Cosmetics, and More

I didn't have my camera yesterday, so I'm making up for it today with some shots of things I saw today walking over to the career fair at UAA to sit at the Peace Corps booth for a while.

A cloud caught on a 

cosmic nail.  Through the rip, blue 

checks in on the earth.

 I wrote in an earlier post that we don't use chains in Anchorage.  As I wrote it I was thinking, well sometimes I've seen postal vehicles with chains, and here is another exception. Maybe that's why I focused on cars in the other post.

And cyclists use chains.  But they use them in the summer too. 

I found a couple of interesting, but totally unrelated websites when I first googled "Eat Like the World" but nothing about this UAA event.  Here's what I'm guessing this is about from the University of Central Missouri:

A hunger banquet is a tool to demonstrate the distribution of food among the people of the world. We in the US - even the hungry in the US - have it much better than many people in the world. Guests draw tickets at random that assign them each to either a high-, middle-, or low-income tier and receive a corresponding meal.

• The high-income tier are served a sumptuous meal.
• The middle-income section eat a simple meal of rice and beans.
• The low-income tier help themselves to small portions of rice and water.

Why are we presenting a hunger banquet? It is a tool to build awareness to hunger issues that occur around the globe and around the block. Many of us have an extra can of food that we could share with someone. Many of us have an extra afternoon that we could spend helping the needy in our own community. Many of us have an extra few dollars that could make the diffence for someone who didn't eat last night. Many of us can help, and most of us are willing to do something. But we need to know how to help and what we can do. We are presenting the Hunger Banquet to raise money and collect food for the needy in our community, nation and world. We are presenting the banquet to help you help your neighbor.

If you want to know more and/or make reservations you can email uaaisa[AT]gmail.com. 




Finally, I got to the career fair.  There were lots of employers, not all that many students. 







The Peace Corps table (Joe there in the green Gambian shirt) was right across from the Army table.  They had a video showing people going through training the whole time.  We had nothing (stuff was sent up from the Seattle Peace Corps office) that had a big Peace Corps on it.  We had lots of brochures.  So I went home and got some big photos, and old photo album, a Thai fish trap, and some other odds and ends.  I did meet some interesting folks. 







*While I was looking for a link online relating to the "Eat Like the World" poster, I found this from "The Shepherdess' Mantle" a story from August 1960 copy of The Ministry  about Merrilee who is talking to her Aunt Anne about her upcoming marriage to a Minister.  I thought it was an interesting historical perspective. 

". . . And what about cosmetics, Auntie? Everybody wears them nowadays. You look really out of place without some kind of make-up."

"Yes, I suppose so." Aunt Anne sighed. "It is too bad that God's people cannot bear to be peculiar people any more. Oh, I don't mean that they should be conspicuous," Aunt Anne hastened to add. "But most of our young people today think they have to dress like the world, eat like the world, and most of them want to act like the world. They have completely forgotten that we are to be in the world but not of the world.

"Adventists should be the best-groomed people in the world. Their skin should be the fairest and the freest from blemishes, for we are supposed to eat right and keep scrupulously clean. Their nails should be clean and well filed. Their figures should be finely proportioned through exercise and diet. Their hair should be neat, well-groomed, and attractively arranged, whether long or short. Who says we are not allowed to use creams to keep the skin soft and lovely? Or lotions and powders? Cosmetics are not necessarily wrong. But when girls think they must wear artificial color on their hair, lips, cheeks, and fingernails, that is extreme, unbecoming to a Christian, and unnatural."