Alaska Answers

Q. What about Employment? Uncharted Lands? What to see and do? Cannery Jobs? Statehood? Weather? These were some of the questions sent in by Stephanie, Laurence, Selena, Barb, Desaray, Ron, Cody and Anglea.

A. Well, to all of you listed above I would like to remind you of my archives. I have fully answered these questions (sometimes in more than one place). I ‘could’ answer them again, of course, but in the interests of not repeating myself, I’d like you to just scan back thru the previous postings – a.k.a. ‘Archives’! I have probably 50 different categories, but tried to by helpful by assigning them concise, accurate titles. It doesn’t take that long to scan back thru, and who knows? Your eye just might catch something of additional interest to you. Which might spark a new question from you to feed my column’s voracious appetite! -BJ

Q. Does the Alaskan government really pay you to live there at first? Also, I’d like to know what kind of crops do you raise there? Thanks! -Otis

A. Otis, I’d like you to look in my archives for a listing posted May 17, 2006 which will fully answer your question about what we call the Permanent Fund Dividend. You will also find many references to the weather in the archives also, either under ‘Weather’ or ‘Temperatures’ Please look there, so I won’t be accused of repeating myself incessently! I can’t help but do a ‘bit’ of that, but like to keep it to a minimum.

Now, about crops, lots of things grow really well here because of the long, light days of summer. Root crops especially do well. We raise great potatoes for instance. There are large potato fields near me, and an industrious person who doesn’t mind getting ‘down and dirty’ can go thtu the fields, gleaning what the potato picking machines have missed. It is expected and even encouraged. Back in ‘ought seven’ when I had ‘legs’, I would take the kids and go gleaning and often picked up enough potatoes to last us all winter. Fun!

Members of the cabbage family do well, also. Cabbage, kale, brussels sprouts, broccoli,, cauliflower, carrots, all do great. I guess you would say the only things that don’t do well are things that need really hot sun and soil; things like green beans,, melons, okra, etc. You can grow tomatoes here if you have a greenhouse. Well, there are a few varieties of far north tomatoes which can be grown outdoors, but don’t believe they are big producers. I do have a friend who has raised canteloups in her greenhouse!

Corn can be grown, but not on any big scale, and then ONLY if you plant it under black plastic, cutting little slits for the corn plants to come thru. This keeps the soil warm enough that there are a couple varieities, bred for the northland, which do ‘okay’.

Hay is a good crop here and there are several hayfields nearby. Up by Delta Junction, there are some big barley fields also.

Weather can be different from year to year. You just can’t make a ‘blanket statement’ about it. For instance, this year, at Delta Junction, near Fairbanks, they had the coldest weather in 115 years on June 1st, when our daughter in law Susan lost her greenhouse full of tomatoes to a hard frost. It even snowed a bit in Fairbanks that day. Totally crazy weather, but makes for a good topic of conversation.

Hope this answers your questions. If not, write me again please. -BJ

Q. Could a man survive 12 daytime hours at -75 below degree weather? -Josh

A. Well, Josh, I am assuming that you heard someone claim to do this, and are skeptical. Right?

The answer is ‘yes’ he could, given a few conditions. Did he have warm clothes? Did he have food and water? Any shelter? Was the wind blowing?

You know if it is minus 40 to minus 50 and the wind is blowing at 30-50 mph, what we call the wind chill, makes it like it was a hundred degrees below zero! The wind does sometime blow like that, in places, in the winter.

When we lived in the bush in the 70’s, it once got 72 below where we were. I remember us arguing about who had to go out and check on the chickens and the geese, feed them and take warm water to them. That was COLD. Brrrr. I got a chill just thinking back on that.

If this man had on insulated underwear (long johns), then warm shirt and pants, couple pair of wool socks; then a parka, warm hat, insulated outer pants such as snow machine pants, and warm, insulated footwear such as Paks, or Bunny boots, or moosehide and fur mukluks, well, yes, I’m sure he could survive even 12 hours outside at that temperature.

An important thing would be some high calorie food in his pockets. The normal man gets by on something around 2,300 calories a day. To be out in that temp for that long, you would need to eat about 6,000 calories to stay safe.

In 1909 Ernest Shackelton and crew tried to reach the south pole. They got within 100 miles which was a feat even of itself. His journals record a day when the temperature was 70 degrees below zero, with a fierce blizzard blowing all day. They survived. So the answer to your question is ‘yes’ (but who would want to try?) I am thankful for my warm house I know that. Take care, and stay warm. -Bonnie J.

Q. I will be taking a cruise in May. Can you tell me what the weather conditions will be like? -Anonymous

A. It varies from year to year, but generally speaking. probably a bit chllly. We always tell visitors to bring clothing they can ‘layer’. And be sure and bring a lightweight rain jacket, as along the coastal route you’ll probably get a bit of rain also. I can tell you what is normal for May around the Juneau area, which you’ll be cruisin’ by. You can expect days of around 55 degrees and nights of maybe 40 degrees. For May they usually have about 17 days of rain. It stays light over 17 hours a day.

In spite of the possibly chilly drizzle, it will all be worth it as you pass by majestic mountains, misty bays, islands covered with towering spruce, and watch the antics of bears, whales, and eagles. Yes, indeed, you’ll be happy you came. Bon Voyage! -Bonnie

Q. Why is Alaska so cold? -Gregory

A. Well, I guess probably because of our location – you know, east of the sun and west of the moon! At least that is how I felt about our location the first several years in Alaska in the early 70’s. Seemed like we were so very far from everything familiar, even though I loved Alaska from Day One!

I’m sure the scientific explanation is the tilt of planet earth, as we wobble our way around the sun. Did you know we ‘wobble’? It is the angle of the sun’s rays which determine climate, or, in other words, hot and cold. We are in the northern latitudes and those are the colder areas.

The variations of cold within the state are determined also by the position of the different mountain ranges. For instance, the extreme cold of the arctic is kept, somewhat, up there by the Brooks Range of mountains which stretchs across the state above the arctic circle. The other mountain ranges, also somewhat control movement of hot and cold air.

How cold does it get here? Well, in my area, 15 or 20 below a few times in the winter is cold. 360 miles north where some of my kids live, 40 and 50 below are not uncommon. It is so wierd that when it has been 50 below for a few days, for instance, and then warms up to zero, you will feel so ‘warm’ that you will actually go out to feed the chickens or bring in wood, in your shirt sleeves! We have experienced this many times. So I guess you could say, cold is ‘relative’. The coldest recorded I think was 80 degrees below zero at Prospect Creek Camp in 1971. At the other end of the scale, 100 degrees above zero was recorded at Ft. Yukon in 1915. Seventy above is definitely my favorite! -Bonnie J.

Q. Five people wanted to know similar things, such as what is the weather like in August? What is your weather like, in general, in Alaska? How often does it snow? What is your weather like in June? I’m cruising the Inside Passage the first of September and am wondering what weather to expect.(these were asked by Jordan, Anonymous, Mateotron, Karen and Eleanor.)

A. This is a little bit hard to answer. Our state is so big that it really varies from place to place.

Fairbanks, which is about 360 miles north of me gets hotter in the summer and colder in the winter than it does here. They have summer days in the 80’s and 90’s sometimes, although most of them are upper 50’s to maybe 70; however, it always cools off at night, so you need a blanket.That is nice. I think folks can stand hot days pretty well if they can sleep cool, don’t you? It is not unusual for them to have -40 and -50 in the winter. Sometimes it will be 40 or 50 below for days at a time! It got 72 below one winter when we lived at Copper Center.

The Anchorage area, which I tease my Fairbanks area kids as being the ‘banana belt’, is more moderate. Our summer days are mostly in the upper 50’s to upper 70’s, and our winters are more like mostly zero to 20 above, or maybe 10 below, just to give you an idea.

Down in lower Alaska, for instance around Juneau, it rains a lot, and doesn’t get near as severe in winter, nor as hot in summer. Summer in Juneau will find it mostly in the 50’s. Winter is typically in the mid 20’s to the mid 30’s.

The secret for an enjoyable stay in Alaska is to bring clothing that you can ‘layer’, adding to or taking off to suit yourself.

Jordan, I believe you wanted to know specifically about August. Are you perhaps coming up in August? Well, since I don’t know exactly which part you are coming to, I’ll just give you a few examples: In August, average temperature in Fairbanks is upper 50’s and rainfall 1.82 inches. Anchorage area is about the same on temps – upper 50’s, but rainfall is 2.31 inches. In lower Alaska, upper temps will again be mid 50’s, but rainfall is 5.10″ on average, for August. See? I told you it rains more there. That’s why they have the beautiful tall evergreens; whereas our area has the more stunted black spruce. To compare an annual average figure – Juneau gets 53.86 inches of rain a year and Fairbanks only gets 10.37 inches a year. Big difference.

Now, how much does it snow? Well, again, depends. Anchorage and Fairbanks have about the same…69 and 68 inches. Juneau gets 100 inches; but listen to this: Valdez gets an average of 320 inches! That’s over 26 feet of snow.

The good thing about our supposed over 5 feet of snow is that there is never that much on the ground at once. We’ll get maybe a foot or two of standing snow, (if that) and then one winter day we’ll awaken to a Chinook blowing. It is a soft feeling, unseasonably warm wind, It will blow for 3 or 4 days sometimes, and it will greatly reduce the depth of the snow.

Now, down in Valdez (say it to rhyme with ‘cheese’. You can fool us into thinking you are an old timer if you say it correctly. Anytime we hear it said as Vahl-days, we know you are a newcomer.) Okay. Down there, the over 26 feet of snow basically stays on the ground. No kidding, before winter is over, the roads of the town are like open-topped tunnels thruout the town. We have friends who live there. They stand on their roof to keep the snow shoveled off (everyone there does) and guess what? They pitch the shovels full of snow UP onto the snowpile, instead of down onto the ground. There isn’t any ground! Kids swings sets get completely buried. This happens in Whittier, Alaska also. We had friends there too, years ago, and would visit them and you would swear you were in what you think of as Siberia.

For your inside passage cruise the first of September, Eleanor, you will find temps in the mid 50’s most likely. It is bound to rain some of the time so bring a rain jacket and rain hat. But you will be so amazed at the beauty, you won’t even mind, I promise!

Karen, you find June temps pretty close to those I quoted above for August. Maybe just a couple degrees cooler. Really depends on the year.

Take care, you all, and write me again. -Bonnie J.

Q. Can you please tell me, will all that ol’ slippery black ice be gone by midnight March 21, 06. If not then; when? -Skye

A. Who in the world do you think I am, Skye? Mother-freakin’-nature? I know I’m good at answering these, but Geez! If I knew things like that I wouldn’t be doing this column. I’d hang out my shingle,(Madame BJ), put on a long full skirt, wrap a multi-colored scarf around my head and make my fortune, but I digress. I’d better shape up and get serious. Hmmmm Well, I’m assuming that you are arriving up here on a ‘red eye’ flight. That sounds about right for arrival time. And while I’m assuming I’ll assume the black ice will all be gone since that is the first day of Spring! Yeah Spring. I love it!

For those of you who don’t know, black ice is that deadly ice which covers the roadways periodically in the winter, and you don’t know it is there because the pavement looks like its same old black asphalt-ey self. You don’t know you’re on ice until you have to brake for something – and then God help you! Fortunately, we don’t have black ice all the time. But I will say you can bust your butt just as royally on white ice as on black. Hope you have a fine time in Alaska, Skye. -Bonnie J.

Q. Are there interstates or freeways in Alaska? What are the roads like in winter? -Matthew

A. Certainly not, like you are thinking, I’m pretty sure. We have no big freeways, with multiple layers like you see in the lower 48. Nothing you could really call an interstate….since we are not next to any other state.

There are basically only about 4 main highways in Alaska. The Seward Highway connects the Kenai Penisula with Anchorage. There, you take the Glenn highway out of town and it goes all the way to Glennallen. About where Wasilla is, you can turn up the Parks Highway to Fairbanks. Going out the Glenn, when you come to Glannallen, it tees with the Richardson Hwy, which stretches from Valdez up to Fairbanks. About halfway to Fairbanks from Glennallen, there is a minor highway connecting the Richardson and the Parks….however, it is not open in the winter. There is also a minor highway south of Anchorage, connecting the Seward Hwy with some small towns. I think it is called the Sterling Hwy. Oh, yeah there is the ‘Tok Cutoff’ which takes you from above Glennallen over to Tok and the Alcan Hwy to the lower 48. That’s about it, far as I know.

I know a funny snowplow story from when we lived out near Copper Center. We had a friend who drove snowplow there. Of course when they would come upon a snowmobiler riding along in the ditch, they were supposed to lift their blade as they came alongside, so as not to spray them with snow. Well, Ed was driving along, daydreaming a bit, I’d guess, and all of a sudden realized he hadn’t lifted his blade. He brought the snowplow to a halt and looked back. Sure enough, there was a big pile of snow in the ditch, and sitting right on top, was the red pom pom of a ladies knit cap! He raced back and dug her out, with many many apologies. Fortunately, for him, she took it well and even laughed.

We have a very nice highway now going from the Wasilla/Palmer area in to Anchorage. It is 6 lane part of the way and 4 lane the rest of the way. I guess you could call it a ‘freeway’, as near the juncture of the Parks and the Glenn, there is an interchange which channels you to either Wasilla or Palmer and the railroad passes beneath. Anyway it makes it just a nice ‘cruise’ into Anchorage now.

Our roads are all very well maintained in the winter. The state highway boys do a fine job and it isn’t as big a deal driving up here in the winter as you might expect. The main thing above all is to remember to slow down in the winter. When the first snowfall hits, there is a few days of record number fender benders. Then people remember, “oh, yeah, it’s winter now” and they level off. Me? I don’r have to remember to slow down since I drive like a snail all year round! ha ha Hope this helps. -BJ

Q. What are some bad things about Alaska? My mother is wanting to move there and I don’t want her to do so. -Fred

A. Fred, you bad boy! You have stumped the expert! You aren’t going to like this, but I can’t think of ANY bad things! I’m serious, guy! You didn’t say how old your mother is. Is she able to get around pretty good? Has she always been an adventuresome sort, or maybe wanting to be one? Either way, she’ll like it here.

If your mom is a senior citizen, well, there are an awful lot of us up here! Some folks ‘wimp out’ and go south for their golden years, but not me. Alaska is good to its citizens and its seniors.

I suppose if she hates cold weather, she might not want to come…..but we do have stoves and warm clothing up here. I suppose if she loathes mosquitoes, she might hesitate….but they only last for about 6 weeks and there are solutions to them. (see the archives for that subject).

Does she still work? Is she retired? Tell me a little more. Or better yet, have her tell me. If you dare! (heh heh) She can reach me by e mail at bonnie@alaskaanswers.com Now, be a man, Fred, and give her my addy and trust her to do the right thing. You could always come too you know? Take care, Bonnie J.

Q. I am planning our 25th wedding anniversary and we want to take our first cruise. We would like to go to Alaska. What time of the year is better to cruise, & what destination would be best? -Karen

A. What a great idea – an anniversary cruise. You didn’t say when your anniversary is, but I’m hoping it is between mid May and mid September because that is the cruising season. Earlier, or later, during that period will get you the best rates. You live in Texas, correct? Anyway, what you would most likely do is fly to Seattle or Vancourver BC and catch the cruise ship there. Your travel agent should be able to just include your flight there in with your ‘package’.

Actually, now is not too early to book for this summer as the cruises are very popular. These cruises are one way only. Well, I believe there is a ship that you can take round trip from Seattle, but it does not come as far up into Alaska as do the one way cruises, so not as good. The cruises I’m talking about come up the inside passage and you visit towns like Juneau, Ketchikan, Sitka, Skagway, etc., arriving in either Seward or Whittier – both accessible to Anchorage by public transportation. At Anchorage, you can get on a tour of some more of the state if you like (and this can be included in your package also).

My travel agent considers the best cruises to be on board either a Princess Ship or one by Carnival Lines. My six cousins came on a Princess ship about 3 years ago and just really loved the trip! They raved and raved. Saw so much sealife, glaciers and beautiful scenery and reported being treated like royalty on shipboard!

Best wishes with your plans, Karen, and if I can help in any other way please let me know. You can reach me with an email at bonnie@alaskaanswers.com Happy Anniversary!