Alaska Man Monday: Alaska Heroes, and Snow, Snow, Snow

Boy, it’s been cold. Now the cold snap has broken, and the snow is moving in. That’s good; we need the snow. More on that in a bit. First, the Alaska winter weather almost claimed some victims over by St. George Island – almost. Thanks to more Alaska heroes, this time a Coast Guard crew, a nearby fishing boat, and a daring rescue.

The U.S. Coast Guard rescued nine people from a grounded fishing vessel near St. George Island early Monday after the vessel began taking on water amid severe weather conditions.
Coast Guard watchstanders at the Coast Guard Arctic District Command Center in Juneau received a report at about 4:11 a.m. that the fishing vessel Arctic Sea had run aground along the island’s northern shoreline with nine people aboard, according to the Coast Guard.
A nearby fishing vessel, the North Sea, was unable to safely assist due to dangerous conditions, including 50-knot winds and 10-foot seas.
The North Sea’s crew remained near the scene to provide updates to Coast Guard watchstanders.

In the kind of weather Alaska’s waters can see this time of year, just remaining in the area was pretty tough stuff.

Watchstanders launched an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter aircrew from Coast Guard Forward Operating Site Cold Bay and an HC-130 Super Hercules airplane crew from Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak.
The cutter Alex Haley was also diverted to the ship’s location.
The helicopter crew arrived on scene at about 11:30 a.m. and successfully hoisted all nine people from the grounded ship.
No injuries were reported.

This isn’t a job I’d want to take on. A couple of years ago, a buddy of mine went out on a late-season fishing trip and ended up stranded in a tiny cove in Prince William Sound as a winter storm lashed the waters, making it impossible to round the point back to where they’d launched. There were, if memory serves, five guys on that boat, and they were stuck for three days. But in this case, at least, everything ended OK.

Alaska Man score: 5 moose nuggets. Heroes, one and all.

Now, file this under #Alaskaproblems. We have, so far, had an oddly cold, dry winter – until last week, when we got about 18” of snow in three days in the Susitna Valley. We were effectively snowed in for three days.

It’s cool. That’s Alaska for you. From Tuesday:

While the snow has lightened up for some across Southcentral, today will continue to usher in several more inches of snowfall accumulation. It’s possible by Wednesday morning, some parts of Southcentral could see over 20 inches of snowfall. The highest amounts look to be along the foothills of the Talkeetna Mountain, through the valley and along the Anchorage and Eagle River Hillsides. Even at sea level, up to a foot of snow or more has fallen.

We ended up getting about a foot and a half here. We’re supposed to get that much again in the coming week.

Alaska Man score: 2.5 of 5 moose nuggets. It’s neutral. This is Alaska. It’s winter. It snows. It will snow again, before spring returns to us.

And it’s a good thing it snows, too, because a lot of our environment depends on it. Dog-sledders, cross-country skiers, and show machine fans are happy, because they need a certain amount of snow to enjoy their hobbies.

A lot of people who live in warmer parts of the USA find our winters fascinating in their harshness, although honestly, our winters aren’t really any worse than those of upstate New York, Minnesota, or Montana. Or Allamakee County, Iowa, where I grew up. The winters here are longer, the days shorter, but other than that, it’s really not a big difference.

So, speaking of snow and the environment:

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