Alaskan Spring "Break Up" Continues

9 April 2012
8:46 PM

Sunrise at	6:36 AM	in direction	69°	East-northeast
Sunset at	9:11 PM	in direction	291°	West-northwest

Duration of day: 14 hours, 35 minutes (6 minutes, 48 seconds longer than yesterday)

When I lived in Colorado around summer solstice, it was always a kick to have twilight linger to 9 PM.  Here in Fairbanks, the sun is just setting @ 9:00 and we will have another hour of twilight.  As I looked at those times I thought to myself that the actual solar time would have been sunrise at 4:36 AM and sunset at 7:11 PM.  I thought that couldn't be that much different than Colorado now.  I went and checked.  Sunrise in Denver was at 6:36 AM and sunset at 7:33 PM.  We already have 1.5 hours more light than mid latitudes.  The sun is well to the west when setting now too.  Sun streamed into the northwest side of house where the bedroom is this afternoon - very nice.

Break up is happening along the road to our house and in the driveway.  Early morning, after the temperatures have cooled over night, ice slicks are visible next to the huge piles of packed snow chunks I photographed and posted 6 April.  And the thin film of ice extends all the way down the road next to the piles of snow debris.  In our driveway, which was not bladed, the snow pack is rotting and the car would not have made it back into the driveway without All-wheel drive.  The snow pack was crushing under the weight of the car and since the snow is still deep, a smaller car without benefit of extra traction could easily get stuck.

It's the time of year that rubber boots can become very useful.  I would have benefited from having some type of waterproofed foot gear yesterday.  As we walked the loop at Chena Hot Springs with our dogs, temperatures continued to rise.  The loop leads back into the resort along service roads and parking lots.  By the time we returned, these were very slushy.  Getting my feet wet was unavoidable and water soaked into my wool Lobens.  True, I didn't feel the cold once my body temperature heated up the water thanks to the wool, but I didn't want to use those boots when I put on dry socks and wore my ski boots instead.

Looking out across our yard, you could still delude yourself into thinking there was no difference from the day before, but along the road into campus, the snow was beginning to get that pouffy marshmallow look to it.  Melting occurs in some sections faster than others and as the level of snow drops in those sections, snow patches develop rounded edges.  It is very appealing.

This year appears to be a steady melt, no deluges yet.  We have our fingers crossed.