Is It Summertime Yet?

Wow oh wow, has it ever been freezing cold. This past week it was in the -30's, then it warmed up into the teen's for a couple days. While it was warmer, we got a couple more inches of snow. Now tonight, it is currently -33. Ahlapa!! Real Cold!! Makes me want to stay inside and not go anywhere! I've been working days this past week, and will be again next week. Come into work at 7:30am and work til about 4:30pm. I take students to Rec Center in the mornings and have a PE class with them, then teach a Life Skills class, and after that, for the remainder of the day, I teach a Post Secondary Ed class, helping seniors fill out college applications, scholarship applications, etc. I am at work right now, working today until a little after 10pm, then back to work at 7:30am, not sure how that happened. Students are all watching a movie right now. That's all for now.

Groundhog Day

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NOME AK 845 AM AKST MON FEB 2 2009 ...FIRST TIME THIS WINTER NOME'S TEMPERATURE DROPS TO MINUS 30... ON THIS GROUNDHOG DAY 2009...NOME'S TEMPERATURE DIPPED TO MINUS 30, THE COLDEST TEMPERATURE OF THE SEASON. INCIDENTALLY, LAST WINTER'S COLDEST TEMPERATURE WAS MINUS 33, AND IT TOO WAS RECORDED ON GROUNDHOG DAY 2008 AS WELL AS THE DAY AFTER ON FEBRUARY 3D.

January 2009 Weather

Noticed when I posted this earlier, it cut a bunch out, so here it is again, our weather for the month of January 2009. PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NOME AK 755 AM AKST SUN FEB 1 2009 ...NOME MONTHLY WEATHER SUMMARY FOR JANUARY 2009... THE FIRST MONTH OF 2009 SAW TWO DISTINCT PERIODS OF COLD, DRY WEATHER SANDWICHED AROUND A PERIOD OF WARMER, WETTER CONDITIONS. A COLD, ARCTIC AIRMASS SETTLED OVER THE REGION IN LATE DECEMBER AND PERSISTED THROUGH THE FIRST 11 DAYS OF THE MONTH. TEMPERATURES DURING THIS TIME REMAINED BELOW ZERO, AND AVERAGED IN THE NEGATIVE TEENS AND 20S. DURING THE NEXT 15 DAYS, A MAJOR PATTERN SHIFT BROUGHT WARMER TEMPERATURES AND SNOWY WEATHER TO NOME. WARM SOUTHERLY FLOW RAISED MAX TEMPERATURES TO THE TEENS AND 20S ABOVE ZERO, AND EVEN BROUGHT TEMPERATURES ABOVE THE FREEZING MARK FOR TWO DAYS. THE FINAL FIVE DAYS OF THE MONTH SAW TEMPERATURES PLUMMET BELOW ZERO ONCE AGAIN. THE HIGHEST TEMPERATURE FOR THE MONTH WAS 36 DEGREES ON THE 16TH, WHILE THE LOWEST WAS NEGATIVE 28 ON THE 3RD. TWENTY-ONE DAYS HAD LOW TEMPERATURES BELOW ZERO, WITH ELEVEN OF THOSE DAYS DROPPING TO NEGATIVE 20 OR BELOW. THE AVERAGE MONTHLY TEMPERATURE WAS ONE DEGREE, AND THIS WAS 4.8 DEGREES BELOW NORMAL FOR JANUARY. OTHER THAN A DUSTING OF SNOW ON NEW YEAR'S DAY, THE FIRST ELEVEN DAYS OF THE MONTH WERE DRY. A MAJOR PATTERN SHIFT BROUGHT TWO STRONG STORM SYSTEMS, WHICH PRODUCED STRONG GUSTY WINDS, BLOWING SNOW, POOR VISIBILITIES, AND EVEN A BRIEF SHOT OF RAIN WHEN TEMPERATURES CLIMBED ABOVE FREEZING. SNOWFALL AMOUNTS OF AT LEAST AN INCH WERE RECORDED EACH DAY FROM THE 12TH THROUGH THE 16TH, WITH THE HIGHEST AMOUNT OF 4.7 INCHES REPORTED IN THE 15TH. THE MONTH ROUNDED OUT WITH JUST WEAK FLURRIES AND SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS, WITH DAILY TOTALS BEING NO MORE THAN A HALF INCH. THE TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH WAS 15.6 INCHES, BRINGING THE CURRENT SNOW DEPTH TO 28 INCHES, AND THE TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON TO 39.7 INCHES.

Boo Cold

Currently it is -26 outside, so very cold. I spent the day inside, didn't really want to get out in this coldness. Starting to think I may be ready for summer, but that's still at least four months away. My Christmas lights are still shining pretty! Had lots of travel last week, went to Elim, Teller, and Wales. Kept me busy. Going to be on a different work schedule the next two weeks, switching from evenings to days. This means getting used to working from 7:30am-4pm instead of 2pm-11pm. So, it is now 10:30pm, which means I need to be getting to bed so I'll be at least halfway ready to get up early in the morning.

January 2009 Weather

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NOME AK
755 AM AKST SUN FEB 1 2009

...NOME MONTHLY WEATHER SUMMARY FOR JANUARY 2009...

THE FIRST MONTH OF 2009 SAW TWO DISTINCT PERIODS OF COLD, DRY WEATHER
SANDWICHED AROUND A PERIOD OF WARMER, WETTER CONDITIONS.

A COLD, ARCTIC AIRMASS SETTLED OVER THE REGION IN LATE DECEMBER AND
PERSISTED THROUGH THE FIRST 11 DAYS OF THE MONTH. TEMPERATURES DURING
THIS TIME REMAINED BELOW ZERO, AND AVERAGED IN THE NEGATIVE TEENS AND
20S. DURING THE NEXT 15 DAYS, A MAJOR PATTERN SHIFT BROUGHT WARMER
TEMPERATURES AND SNOWY WEATHER TO NOME. WARM SOUTHERLY FLOW RAISED
MAX TEMPERATURES TO THE TEENS AND 20S ABOVE ZERO, AND EVEN BROUGHT
TEMPERATURES ABOVE THE FREEZING MARK FOR TWO DAYS. THE FINAL FIVE
DAYS OF THE MONTH SAW TEMPERATURES PLUMMET BELOW ZERO ONCE AGAIN. THE
HIGHEST TEMPERATURE FOR THE MONTH WAS 36 DEGREES ON THE 16TH, WHILE
THE LOWEST WAS NEGATIVE 28 ON THE 3RD. TWENTY-ONE DAYS HAD LOW
TEMPERATURES BELOW ZERO, WITH ELEVEN OF THOSE DAYS DROPPING TO
NEGATIVE 20 OR BELOW. THE AVERAGE MONTHLY TEMPERATURE WAS ONE DEGREE,
AND THIS WAS 4.8 DEGREES BELOW NORMAL FOR JANUARY.

OTHER THAN A DUSTING OF SNOW ON NEW YEAR'S DAY, THE FIRST ELEVEN DAYS
OF THE MONTH WERE DRY. A MAJOR PATTERN SHIFT BROUGHT TWO STRONG STORM
SYSTEMS, WHICH PRODUCED STRONG GUSTY WINDS, BLOWING SNOW, POOR
VISIBILITIES, AND EVEN A BRIEF SHOT OF RAIN WHEN TEMPERATURES CLIMBED
ABOVE FREEZING. SNOWFALL AMOUNTS OF AT LEAST AN INCH WERE RECORDED
EACH DAY FROM THE 12TH THROUGH THE 16TH, WITH THE HIGHEST AMOUNT OF
4.7 INCHES REPORTED IN THE 15TH. THE MONTH ROUNDED OUT WITH JUST WEAK
FLURRIES AND SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS, WITH DAILY TOTALS BEING NO MORE
THAN A HALF INCH. THE TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH WAS 15.6 INCHES,
BRINGING THE CURRENT SNOW DEPTH TO 28 INCHES, AND THE TOTAL SNOWFALL
FOR THE SEASON TO 39.7 INCHES.

Skin Sewing Class

Tonight I had my first skin sewing class. I started making an ornament, a star. It is made of cow skin and I am beading pink and blue around it. Because I am not Native, I cannot sew with seal skin. I can buy things already made, but to purchase the skin and use myself, I cannot do. Hopefully the picture I am trying to attach of my ornament and me will show up.

Good Times

We have so much snow, and is it ever fun! Yesterday afternoon was fun playing in my backyard. There are parts of the yard if I would be standing on the ground the snow would go way over my head it is so deep. I'll try to get a picture posted later of me making a snow angel, or at least trying to. I am now traveling to three villages at school counselor, Elim, Teller, and Wales. Flying out in the morning for my first trip to the school in Elim. I've landed there before, but have never visited. Going to be a busy week traveling to three schools. It is nice to be having a change for this week. The first week after the New Year, we had Junior High students, then the last two weeks we've had High School. Three weeks in a row with students wore me out. The other weekend I worked both Saturday and Sunday, so it was nice this past weekend to have a complete break from work. I even left my computer at the office! Tonight I start a class, skin sewing. Going to be making ornaments and mittens out of furs and skins. I am really looking forward to it. Just hoping the room has good ventilation because I am allergic to some furs. I'll try to remember to take my camera along and get some pictures. Maybe if I do really well with this, I could make myself a pair of mukluks (boots). I really want a pair of those, but they are pretty spendy. Well, I'd better get home from work. Need to catch up on laundry so I'll have some clean clothes to travel with. Also going to make something for dinner with some ground musk ox someone gave me yesterday, yum yum.

temperature

Yesterday there was a huge temperature difference, high was 35 and low was 0. Current temperature is 5. Sure warmed up from -28 a couple weeks ago.

Snowstorm!

Wow, the past couple of days we have had a snowstorm. Got about 8 inches of snow. It is also pretty slick out due to the temp warming up for a bit. When I drove out to work last night, there were several times I couldn't see anything, complete whiteout. Thankfully it seems to be over now, clearing up and roads plowed. I still have my Christmas lights up as the days are still fairly short. I will probably leave them up until March. Really enjoying living in my own house, the backyard is so full of snow! I need to get out on my snowmachine sometime soon, a friend borrowed it over Christmas and had it out hunting two times, two musk ox. I am planning a trip to Anchorage for a weekend next month, looking forward to shopping! I had another village added to my travels as school counselor, I am now traveling to Teller, Wales, and Elim. Keeps me very busy! The year is off to a great start!