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| The Nenana River near Cantwell. The river was frozen late in the spring of 2013, affecting rafting companies. |
May and June led to weeks of weather extremes. Here's a look at what we've run across in our travels.
In Denali National Park and nearby Healy, summer companies showed up in May, blew the antifreeze out of their water pipes as they always do -- and then promptly had to deal with frozen and busted pipes when the temperatures dropped to uncharacteristic winter lows.
For awhile, the Nenana River was choked with ice. Then, there was an abrupt change. Suddenly, the temperatures spiked at over 80 degrees north of the Alaska Range. The rivers instantly melted.
Rapid snowmelt caused streams everywhere to rise in their banks. Chistochina was flooded. The Chena River in Fairbanks came close to the top of its riverbed. The Tok Cutoff was closed due to flooding, and there was flooding north of Delta Junction. The Gakona River flooded part of the fishing campground near the bridge. In Thompson Pass, newly formed waterfalls cascaded off the cliffs and impromptu streams formed in the gullies alongside the Richardson Highway.
Fairbanks residents were busy dealing with the problems of downriver people who had flocked to town as their homes were destroyed by the rising Yukon River. Displaced Galena residents began showing up at Fairbanks hotels, and the Fairbanks cultural center held a special elders' event to help make them feel at home.
Meanwhile, there were unusually low temperatures, too. On June 7th, the stretch of road between Anchor Point and Homer was 37 degrees above zero, and on June 5th, the upper Glenn Highway near Gunsight Mountain also dropped to the mid-30's. As June continued, though, record high temperatures -- into the mid-90's in Talkeetna, for example -- blanketed Alaska. It's been years since we've seen such a warm summer. Which is great for flowers, great for berries -- and great for tourism.