Tweeters,
My RFI regarding weather conditions for early spring travel to Alaska netted
several good replies. A number of others asked me to share this
information, so I am summarizing it for the whole list. Even the National
Weather Service finds it impossible to predict the weather months in
advance, but the comments come from people who have lived in Alaska, so
their comments reflect first-hand experience. In their opinion, weather
should not a serious obstacle to travel after mid-to-late April, although
one could see an occasional light snow. Early morning travelers could
encounter black ice, which requires extreme caution, but all-season truck
tires should be adequate. Chains are not essential. Shoulders can be soft,
so be careful where you pull over, and be sure to refuel when the gas gauge
gets below half full. One person recommended that we avoid the Cassiar
Highway early in the spring, although I believe it is now fully paved. Last
year, spring thaw came to Anchorage and Fairbanks mid-to-late April, and the
last snow occurred around May 10. We hope to be in Homer for the May 9-12
Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival. I should also mention that the web has a
wealth of information on Alaska birding. These include Blake Maybank's
repository of birding reports (www3.ns.sympatico.ca/maybank/USA/AK), Alaska
Hotspots (www.camacdonald.com/birding/usalaska), Gorp, Arctic Audubon
Society, Alaska Bird Observatory and many others. Several of these sites
include links to other good sites and resources. Unfortunately, a couple of
the best bird finding guides are currently out of print (A Bird Finding
Guide to Alaska by Nick Letheby, and A Birder's Guide to the Kenai Peninsula
by George West). Now our big dilemma is how to make optimum use of the
two-plus months we'll be in Alaska.
Gene Bullock