Wow – the coldest March on record. In Alaska. I’m told this is one of, if not the, coldest winter on record in our part of the Susitna Valley, and I believe it, with overnight temps well below zero right through the end of March.
We could have used a little of that global warming this last month.
With the close of March in our rearview mirror, we can officially say it was the coldest March on record. A typical March sees an average high around 25.8 degrees, with this year seeing an average high around 13.4 degrees. It took a bit longer than normal, but temperatures are finally inching up towards seasonal values.
We’ll hold onto more sunshine and warmth today (Wednesday), with temperatures set to warm well into the 30s. Many areas will break freezing today, with temperatures climbing a degree or two each day through the weekend. While we continue our dry spell, we’ll watch for some light snow showers building into parts of Kodiak Island tonight into tomorrow, with wintry mix likely as temperatures warm. The rest of Southcentral will tap into a chance for light snow this weekend, although amounts don’t look very promising. This will generally be a light spring snow that will be enough to just cover our dirty snow.
Speak for yourselves, Anchorage; our snow is still clean and pristine, except where the moose have done their business, or the highway plows have pushed it off the roadway. The snow back in the woods is as clean and beautiful as when it fell. But, yeah, even the most hardened old Alaskans are ready for a little bit of springtime right about now.
Alaska Man score: 5 moosecicles.
Read More: Alaska Man Monday: An Unfortunate Fox; Also, It’s Cold in Fairbanks
Next up: Another day, another act of selfless heroism from the United States Coast Guard, plying the troublesome waters of an Alaska winter. The USCS has rescued five Alaskan people from a fishing boat in distress in the Aleutians, and the boaters are all safe. Well done.
The United States Coast Guard reported a rescue of five people Thursday from a fishing vessel taking on water near Umnak Island in the Aleutian Chain.
Watchstanders at the Coast Guard Arctic District Command Center in Juneau received a call for help from the crew of the fishing vessel Ocean Bay around 4:45 a.m. Thursday that said they were aground and the ship was flooding.
An MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter aircrew and HC-130 Hercules airplane crew from Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak launched in response to the distress call. They also diverted the Cutter Waesche crew to the area.
At around 5 a.m., a good Samaritan vessel named Seafreeze Alaska arrived on scene, with the Hercules and Waesche crews arriving about three hours later. The Ocean Bay crew had also managed to stop the flooding.
The Jayhawk aircrew arrived around 11:15 a.m. and managed to hoist all five people on the Ocean Bay crew away and get them to medical services in Dutch Harbor.
Everyone’s fine. That’s as it should be. As we note in this week’s video, that’s what’s great about being an American: If you are in trouble, your countrymen will come for you.
The Coast Guard is deservedly well-known for acts like this, but we should also take note that the Seafreeze Alaska played a vital role as well. Life has rules, and so does the sea. In this case, we saw the best of both civilian and Coast Guard crews, and five fishermen are home safe. Sometimes that doesn’t work out as well – but this time, it did.
Alaska Man score: 5 happy and relieved fishermen’s families.
Read More: Alaska Man Monday: Alaska Heroes, and Snow, Snow, Snow
Now then, some thoughts on what it means to be an American, in light of recent events in Iran.
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