Thursday, January 12, 2012

Even for Alaska, this is a lot of snow.

Another big snowfall began shortly before midnight in Anchorage, but forecasters are warning that the heaviest amount could come later today, with up to 16 inches expected. The Prince William Sound community of Cordova, which has already been buried under 172 inches of snow since November, could get 7 more inches today.

The snow comes as much of the rest of the United States is seeing less snow than usual so far this winter.

In Valdez, an Alaska coastal community that has seen 318 inches of snow, veterinarian Kathryn Hawkins says the "scary part" is that there's still three months of winter remaining. She says 8-foot walls of snow line either side of her driveway.

The city of Nome is still waiting for a delivery of fuel from a Russian tanker that has been inching through the frozen waters of the Bering Sea. It's following the path being painstakingly plowed by a Coast Guard icebreaker. The vessels hadn't been able to make much progress amid thick ice, wind and unfavorable currents, but conditions improved yesterday. The tanker and the icebreaker are
about 78 miles from Nome.

The city had missed its final pre-winter delivery of fuel by barge when a big storm swept the region last fall.