One day of some sun this week but clouds, rain, snow

It is Feb 18, Saturday and we have had a week of clouds, rain, a little snow today and one day of sun this past week. I did not get outside until the sun had gone down on the sunny day. I am thinking of moving back south next year. My job is turning out to be a lot of work.
Pictures are of Mendenhall glacier about 3 weeks ago now. The ice is not stable and we have have temps up in the 40 degree range in recent weeks. I am thinking my time to go out on the ice to the glacier was very short lived this year - sad really.
I am disappointed. I came to Alaska for the winter and got rain instead.

White out mostly

the last few sets of pictures were taken two weeks ago when it was snowing with big flakes. It was almost a white out and was a white out at times. It idid break a bit and I got the pictures with blue. Then it went white out. Not many people out on this particular day. I had been out to the glacier just the day before but we had so much snow that the previous day tracks had been covered up. It has been raining and warm since that time on the ice two weeks ago. The blue is actually shows a little ice cave. It is kind of hard to see in the picture but it is an ice cave.

White out mostly

the last few sets of pictures were taken two weeks ago when it was snowing with big flakes. It was almost a white out and was a white out at times. It idid break a bit and I got the pictures with blue. Then it went white out. Not many people out on this particular day. I had been out to the glacier just the day before but we had so much snow that the previous day tracks had been covered up. It has been raining and warm since that time on the ice two weeks ago.

Two weeks ago - 40 and 50 degrees since

Last night we had 45 degrees and heavy rain, not my idea of Alaska weather. I checked the weather in Emmonak, AK and it was 25 degrees yesterday. This is mid February - the coldest time of the year. It is just scary. In Emmo, a warm day should be zero degrees this time of year. I hope we can get a freezing spell so I can get out to the glacier this winter again. Side Note: Whitney Houston died yesterday. She had such an amazing voice. RIP Whitney Houston.

More Mendenhall

Rained this past week

We have almost 3 feet of snow but it got up to 38 degrees with lots of rain this past week. I cannot get to the glacier this weekend because Mendenhall lake has a layer of water on the ice. These pictures are from last weekend when it was snowing. During parts of my trip, it was almost white out conditions. This has been a great winter and then turns warm and rainy which makes a mess. The ice should be solid for another month and a half. Global warming is being seen and it is not pretty. Warm places are probably cold but this cold place is much warmer than it should be and our society will pay a price for our ignoring Global Warming. Sadly, it will be future generations who pay the price.

The iceberg

The icebergs are covered with snow but this one had a bit exposed so I took quite a few pictures of it. It is as big as a small school bus so you can get a feel for the size. I took about 200 pictures today at the Glacier. It is 9:30 AM and the snow is still falling steadily. My plan is to wait until the clouds lighten up and then go ski at the Glacier and get some sun pictures.

more Mendenhall - from Saturday 3

I enjoy the quiet, the cold and the personality of the weather at the Glacier. It can be cold and sunny, windy, cloud cover, sun popping through the clouds and it can have a blustery and dangerous wind blowing off the Glacier just challenging me to come closer so it can kill me. I have had the winds blow me backwards at zero degrees as I got close to the Glacier. It was at that point that I got the hint to back off and did. The wind blew me back to the car. I will go out to the Glacier later today when there are lots of people checking it out. I personally prefer being the first person out there but am hoping to get some pictures of the Glacier in sunshine so maybe this afternoon. I was thinking of using the tele-mark skis to climb a mountain but that would be work and I think I need more endurance before I hit a decent mountain trail. Because the snow was so late in coming, I am not in the best of shape. It is like I am just starting ski season and need to get in better shape to do what I want to do. I do not want to get injured because I did too much without being in good enough shape.

More Mendenhall - from Saturday 2

More Mendenhall - from Saturday