Belinda – of Belinda's Brain asked some questions about ALASKA in a comment a while ago... and due to my sloth in answering she had to "Google the answers" for herself. I wanted to make sure I at least attempted to address the questions, since I started this post shortly after reading her comment. Hopefully I can add a little something to her knowledge.
All of these answers will be based on where we live, I will try and add how some other places in Alaska are, but I haven't been to a lot of Bush Alaska, so I cant answer too much. Also, please jump in AK'ns - I am sure I will make some statements you will disagree with since most AK'ns have a different experience depending on where they live.
Here we go...
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS:
Is Alaska super cold right now?
Well right now, it isnt. But let me say this - I live in Coastal Alaska, or in a more southern part, right near the water. This helps keep things a little more mild, and a little less snowy. Now that isn't to say we aren't subject to Alaskan winters... but it isn't as bad. When we came back to Michigan at the beginning of the month, the coldest it had gotten was -10. We had about 8-14" of snow on the ground where I was. Now this may seem like a lot, but it settles over time, and we have a lot more open space - so clearing the roads isn't that hard or bad. When we left the temperature was on average getting up to about 18 as a high and -2 as a low. Not to bad...really. Currently they are having a warm spell where the temps are around 30-40. Now, where I live our weather is similar to Anchorage. It isn't the exact same, but I wont get into the nuances. Compare this to Fairbanks that has has some -30 & -40 days. In the summer we usually get between 55 & 65 every day in June - August. Sometimes we get higher, but this past summer we had 31 straight days of rain... so it was a little odd.
Do we have snow?
The snow thing is weird. Again, where I live we had around 8"-14". Since then though, we have gotten more, but it has also warmed so we lost some. Now we are right near the water. So we get a little less actually due to the warmth. But we also sometimes get dumped on when weather gets trapped by mountains. Now if you go 15-25 miles inland, you start getting a lot more snow. Also, as you drive into the mountains and the pass, you literally are talking FEET of snow. My wife drove through the pass during Halloween weekend, and there were already 1-3' of snow by then in the pass. Where I live is very comparable to Northern Michigan/Wisconsin/Minnesota.
Do we have to work outside?
A lot of folks do. Currently... I am unemployed. [Please pray for me.] But as someone with a law degree and experience in press/public relations - I am hoping I don't have to work outside. But if need be... that is what I will do. Now when you work outside, there is a limit to what you have to do, and a way to deal with it. A lot of folks that work up on the Slope, or the oil fields up on the "top" of Alaska have to go in and out of buildings a lot. There are times though when due to the weather they will essentially "lock down" the area, where people aren't really allowed outside. For those that do work outside though, they are pretty hardcore and I have the utmost respect for them. There are little things here and there that most Alaskans have to do outside.
Snow Days:
One awesome thing about Alaska is that folks don't really complain about the weather!! As someone from Michigan, this was immediately noticeable. As for school kids, in the two school years that I have been there, there has been one 'No School Day.' It was because we got freezing rain. I don't mean drizzle, I mean... literally I couldnt drive faster than 5 mph the last 3 miles home. Usually, they will only close it if there is so much snow that the buses can't travel, which is rare. Again this is based on what I have seen in my area. Now in Anchorage, or other areas with unique landscapes, this might be different. I know Anchorage has snow issues when they just get dumped on, and I am sure they have more snow days. As a note, I am pretty sure that kids go outside until it is 0 degrees in most places for "recess." So kids are supposed to come prepared for that sort of thing.
Sunlight:
Alaska is BIG. So where we are... we get a lot more sunlight than say, Fairbanks. At its shortest, the day is about 5 1/2 hours. So that is like 1030a - 4pm. So it really isn't that bad. In fact, when you think about it... most people are at work during the daylight hours, regardless of where you are. In the summer though, this is awesome, because it is reversed, but better. It never really gets dark. Sure, there is this dusky twilight thing that happens, and you sorta have to use flashlights in the woods or headlights on the car in the middle of the night, but it is awesome being out until midnight doing whatever. In reality, it is a lot of fun. The hardest part is when there is snow on the ground, and you want to do something on a Saturday, but cant get out until 10/11am. Then the next thing you know, the day is over a few hours later. To be honest though, by February things are getting back to normal and it is a lot of fun.
Distance to Things:
This is really subjective. A lot of people live in some pretty remote areas of Alaska, like Bush Alaska. [Bush means pretty much anywhere that isn't in the southeast and southcentral area of Alaska, plus Fairbanks.] So getting to a store might mean literally jumping in a plane. For others, it might mean a trip of 50-60 miles on the weekend. For us, we were literally between 2 towns for a while, with a max trip of about 6 miles. Right now we are about 20 miles from town, but we do have a little store about 8 miles away to get some things if need be. Again, this really depends on where you live, and my experience isn't very interesting, so I cant describe days where I had to load up the dog sled and mush a day or two into 'town.' We were actually surprised at how big our 'town' was.
The Aurora Borealis:
We haven't seen it in Alaska. We are actually in one of the harder areas of the state to see it, since we are so low, and just the geography of where we are. In Fairbanks, and places just a little north of us, you can see it a majority of the year, and most clear days in the winter. Last year was also a "down year" for the Northern Lights. My wife wants to see it, but of course, we have been in Michigan during the good part of the winter when it exists, so when we get back I have a feeling we will be taking a drive somewhere to watch it.
Mexican Restaurants:
I am not sure why you think there would be a lot? Maybe this is something that I don't get culturally... but there are quite a few for such a small area. This intrigues me.... I think I will be doing some Googling myself.
Bears in our yard:
We haven't seen any in our yard, but our friends down the road have. We also lived pretty close to town for a majority of our time, so we were a little less likely to see them in our yard... but they are around, and you cant keep your trash anywhere accessible. That being said, we have seen them very close to where we live, and I have seen more than my fair share. We also hunt the Black Bear, so we go looking for them. We do see lots of Moose in our yard, and that is cool... but also a little intimidating sometimes. We do see quite a bit of wildlife, and during the fish runs, there are a lot more bear around. You do always have to be on guard, and firearms and bear spray are necessities.
Neighborhood:
We used to live in what I would call a rural neighborhood. Now, we live in ... well I dont know. The houses are close together because we are on the river, but we are way out of town. Again, everywhere is different. Anchorage is your typical city life, the Valley (where the Palin's) live are a mix of bedroom community and rural-suburbia, and then there is a little of everything else. The Bush and villages are very remote and people are both in town and remote. So it depends on where you live, and what you want. Things are a lot more spread out for the most part, but most towns have a neighborhood area to them, and it confuses me. I dont know why you would want to live in Alaska and live on TOP of one another. A little land and space would make sense... wouldnt it?
Other questions:
Again these are my experiences... and I am sure some of my Alaskan readers from places like Anchorage, Homer, Fairbanks, Juneau, etc... could chime in with very different experiences. But please feel free to email me...
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