Winter Mortality in Interior Alaska

[ThunderNocked]

40+ psf. 40 psi would crush your house into rumble

Your right - I'm used to PSI for work!

 

[Bambistew]

things have warmed up but then keep dropping down low which is creating more issues in many ways.

I had to shovel off my roof this weekend as they were estimating snow load at 40+ PSF* and I can't remember what the older rafters are rated at. it broke off in sheets with several thicker ice layers between. And I didn't go all the way to the roof because the rake wouldn't handle the last thick layer of ice from December. It may let the snow settle some but it isn't completely getting rid of the issue - especially at higher elevations etc.

Edited PSF not PSI

If they were rated... Much of Alaskan construction isn't inspected or engineered. Good call to get it off. The roof should be rated for 50-60psf, with a FOS of 1.3+ if it was engineered.

A lot of our roof melted off a few weeks, not much ice at all on the roof itself, just snow, and the current dump I have about 26". The load on my roof is not that high, maybe 20-25psf if I had to estimate it. May be a good science fair project for my son. The snow on my roof is much different than the snow pack on the ground though, the ground has 2-3"of ice under the snow on top of the ground and much higher SWE. I won't see the grass until May 1 if I had to guess, and will have snow in the yard until May 20th. Usually I can see grass here and there about April 15-20th and all gone by May 5-10th. I just hope we don't get those late snows like we did in 2013 that killed all the lambs and its not cold once the sun starts staying up for longer.

 

[ThunderNocked]

If they were rated... Much of Alaskan construction isn't inspected or engineered. Good call to get it off. The roof should be rated for 50-60psf, with a FOS of 1.3+ if it was engineered.

A lot of our roof melted off a few weeks, not much ice at all on the roof itself, just snow, and the current dump I have about 26". The load on my roof is not that high, maybe 20-25psf if I had to estimate it. May be a good science fair project for my son. The snow on my roof is much different than the snow pack on the ground though, the ground has 2-3"of ice under the snow on top of the ground and much higher SWE. I won't see the grass until May 1 if I had to guess, and will have snow in the yard until May 20th. Usually I can see grass here and there about April 15-20th and all gone by May 5-10th. I just hope we don't get those late snows like we did in 2013 that killed all the lambs and its not cold once the sun starts staying up for longer.

Same.

The ground snow has much more ice and is harder to shovel, the roof stuff was nice and came off in sheets but no way on the ground stuff. As well we typically have snow left under the trees and in the shadowed side of our house until end of May. Hopefully start seeing grass in late April - that would be nice.
I agree late snow would be bad- we normally get one more snow here in March that is from 2or 3 up to 12 inches. I'm hoping the flurry of about 2" we got earlier this week will be it.

 

[AlaskaHunter]

Same.

The ground snow has much more ice and is harder to shovel, the roof stuff was nice and came off in sheets but no way on the ground stuff. As well we typically have snow left under the trees and in the shadowed side of our house until end of May. Hopefully start seeing grass in late April - that would be nice.
I agree late snow would be bad- we normally get one more snow here in March that is from 2or 3 up to 12 inches. I'm hoping the flurry of about 2" we got earlier this week will be it.

2013 was an unusually cold and snowy spring...we got snow every weekend thru the last weekend in May.
Then a killer frost in early June...all the local greenhouses were out of transplants, so many sparse gardens that summer.

Winter of 91-92 was a cumulative of 147 inches of snow which is the record for Fairbanks.
Most roofs that survived that snowload were > 40 pounds per square foot

We should not complain compared to Valdez...
1989-90 is in their record with a total of 560.7 inches (46 feet) of snowfall.

 

[AlaskaHunter]

Starting to dig out vehicles at our house (1,000 feet elevation).
At that elevation there is a 2 inch thick ice lens halfway down the snowpack.
For the first time since 1991-92 caribou were sighted in our neighborhood,
they typically eat mostly lichen pawed from the windswept areas with low snow.
My guess is tough spring for moose as no warming above freezing for at least another week.

 

[AlaskaHunter]

 

[Dave N]

Those pics recent? Sad.

 

[AlaskaHunter]

Those pics recent? Sad.

Yes also a report of 37 bison died near Delta Junction.

 

[AlaskaHunter]

From Easter Sunday. I did notice where a moose tried eating aspen bark on one of our big aspen trees.
Ice is 29 inches thick on the Tanana River at Nenana

 

[Dave N]

Guess that tripod on the river won't be falling any time soon!

 

[AlaskaHunter]

Guess that tripod on the river won't be falling any time soon!

The deep snow insulated the ice from super cold so the tripod ice is a little thinner than normal,
but the snowpack also insulates the ice from sun warming.
My 2022 guess is May 10 4:05pm. Earliest tripod ice out was April 14, 2019, latest May 20, 1964 & 2013

 

[Tussock]

The deep snow insulated the ice from super cold so the tripod ice is a little thinner than normal,
but the snowpack also insulates the ice from sun warming.
My 2022 guess is May 10 4:05pm. Earliest tripod ice out was April 14, 2019, latest May 20, 1964 & 2013

Tripod ice . What might that be ? All that snow is incredible, I can't begin to imagine what it must be like to live in Alaska. Such a fascinating place.

 

[Dave N]

Tripod ice . What might that be ? All that snow is incredible, I can't begin to imagine what it must be like to live in Alaska. Such a fascinating place.

There is a yearly contest guessing the date and time of the river ice breaking up in spring. The timer is set out on the ice on a tripod with a tripwire attached. When the tripod tips or moves enough to pull the wire it stops the clock. Closest guess wins the money. So "tripod ice" would be the ice under the tripod out in the river.

 

[AlaskaHunter]

Tripod ice . What might that be ? All that snow is incredible, I can't begin to imagine what it must be like to live in Alaska. Such a fascinating place.

The budburst and greenup of trees is usually about a week after tripod ice-out.

 

[AlaskaHunter]

2022 Winter mortality. I built this cedar strip canoe in 1989.
It survived canoe trips in New Hampshire, Idaho, Washington, Montana, and 29 Alaska winters, mostly sugar snow winters.

 

[ThunderNocked]

2022 Winter mortality. I built this cedar strip canoe in 1989.
It survived canoe trips in New Hampshire, Idaho, Washington, Montana, and 29 Alaska winters, mostly sugar snow winters.View attachment 220519

Oh no!!!!

 

[Tussock]

There is a yearly contest guessing the date and time of the river ice breaking up in spring. The timer is set out on the ice on a tripod with a tripwire attached. When the tripod tips or moves enough to pull the wire it stops the clock. Closest guess wins the money. So "tripod ice" would be the ice under the tripod out in the river.

Ok now I get it. Thanks for the explanation much appreciated.

 

[Tussock]

The budburst and greenup of trees is usually about a week after tripod ice-out.

Thank you for posting that video. Tripod ice, I will pick May 21st 10am 2022. Good luck to all you Alaskans.

 

[AlaskaHunter]

More winter mortality. 3 Cracked coil springs on 2 vehicles.

 

[ThunderNocked]

More winter mortality. 3 Cracked coil springs on 2 vehicles.
View attachment 221093

with that road disaster we had I am unfortunately not surprised at all.