Weekly Update on Alaskan Events: Freezing, Denali, and the Iditarod

Yay! The typical Alaskan winter has returned! It’s that time again for Alaskans to step outside, see that it’s 5 degrees above zero, and think, ‘Wow, it’s really starting to warm up!’

Temperatures were dropping all over the state already Tuesday. With the drop, many locations will see more NORMAL temperatures.

Strong winds were blowing along the west coast, with Cold Bay experiencing a gust of wind reaching 55 mph. When combined with the cold temperatures, wind chill will play a significant role during this cold spell.

Consecutive storms are approaching, bringing snowfall to the Panhandle region. Winter storm warnings have been issued, predicting 5 to 8 inches of snow in Juneau and 12 to 15 inches in Hyder.

The Northern Susitna Valley east to the Copper River Basin will also get windy leading to blizzard conditions. Southwest Alaska will also see increasing winds and blowing snow going into Thursday.

Interior communities will see drier, much colder and clear weather.

It’s already happening here. Over the weekend we had nighttime lows in the double-digits – below zero. That’s not at all unusual. But we’re still looking at a dry winter, without much snow in the forecast, at least not out as far as it goes. My concern is what will happen with all this rock-hard ice under the thin layer of snow everywhere when all this starts to melt.

Alaska Man score: 2.5 of 5 moose nuggets. Bad weather yields bad results, but we’re Alaskans. We’re used to weird weather. But that doesn’t mean we won’t complain about it.

Yeah, this isn’t going away. A pro-Trump Alaska Republican is asking the Trump administration to leave Denali as Denali:

Rep. Kevin McCabe, R-Big Lake, joined other Republicans, plus Democrats and independents in a 31-8 vote that asks Trump to reverse his decision to label North America’s tallest mountain as “Mount McKinley.”

The peak had that name between 1896 and 2015, when the Obama administration officially renamed it Denali following decades of lobbying by Alaskans.

The Alaska House of Representatives had voted 28-10 on Monday to approve House Joint Resolution 4, which asks that Trump keep the Denali name, but McCabe requested that vote be reconsidered, and on Wednesday, lawmakers voted again.

Most of the people I know around here are still calling it “Denali.” I’m still calling it “Denali.” It’s what I’m used to, and while I haven’t conducted any formal polling, most of the folks I’ve talked to about it are shrugging and saying, “We’ve always called it Denali”:

Speaking in the House, McCabe said he had heard “significant discussion” from his district since initially opposing the resolution.

“Alaskans have embraced, in my opinion, the name Denali,” McCabe said. “Not just Native Alaskans, but the people that live there, the people that thrive there, the people that use Denali and the park for their livelihood, and they have clearly told me that despite the fact that they all support the executive, the chief executive of the United States, and his ability to do this through executive order, that they would also like him to know that they would like to keep the name Denali.”

Alaska Man score: 5 moose nuggets. Alaskans are speaking out, and that’s good.

Finally, let me share some of my concerns about the upcoming Iditarod – and our troubling lack of snow.