Correction and Update

Remember when I said it was a 20 year storm. Apparently it is a 50 year storm.



When your man is at work for 80 hours you have to take matters into your own hands or muscles.






Kodiak Tries to Dig Out
Tuesday, 24 March 2009

Jay Barrett/KMXT This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Much of Kodiak is essentially shut down today after one of the biggest winter storms on record hit the island. A foot of snow has fallen since midnight, according to the National Weather Service in Kodiak, with 20 inches total since early Monday. The all-time total for this date is 17-point-8 inches in 1956.
The State Department of Transportation reported an avalanche blocking the Chiniak Highway just past the Coast Guard Base. One lane was opened by 7:30, and it was cleared a couple hours later.
Deputy Harbormaster Lon White said one small boat sank at Saint Paul Harbor because of the snow load, and several others are in peril of going under as well. He urged boat owners to check their vessels as soon as they can. The snow was so bad during the height of the storm overnight that White said it was impossible for the four-by-four harbor trucks to make it to Saint Herman Harbor on Near Island. He said the harbor crew is “digging out, like everyone else,” today.
Airport operations have been suspended, and crews were still plowing the runway at noon. A spokesperson at Era Aviation said they expect that to be done by 2 p.m.
School in Kodiak was canceled. Parents got the word from an automated phone message sent to them at 11 o’clock last night.
Kodiak Police Chief T.C. Kamai said his department has not seen many accidents, but has mostly been dealing with vehicles stuck on or beside the roadways. He said even a couple of his department’s Ford Expedition SUVs got stuck, something he said he never thought he’d see happen.
As for road conditions, the chief says they are marginal. He said they are drivable, but slippery. Roads in the city’s residential areas are narrow to begin with, and with snow removal crews plowing, they’re even harder to navigate. He recommends people stay home if they absolutely don’t need to go out.
Debra Marlar, the city clerk, e-mailed saying the city offices were closed and that tonight’s council work session has been rescheduled for Thursday at 6 p.m. The city is operating on a skeleton crew. The Kodiak Island Borough offices are closed, as well.
Also closed: the city’s A. Holmes Johnson Public Library, the Saint Paul Preschool Daycare, Kodiak Christian School, the Kodiak Baptist Mission school programs, the KANA offices, as well as the WIC and Infant Learning programs, State Job Service Center, Kodiak Island Housing Authority, Kodiak College and the Kodiak Senior Citizens’ Center. The senior center will not be making home delivery of meals, and its Island Cove is closed as well. The Community Health Center at Providence Kodiak Island Medical Center is closed, and specialty clinics have been cancelled. The emergency room is open.
But it’s not just offices and schools that have been shut down due to the storm. Many residents find themselves trapped at home by the snow, which was whipped into five- six- or even seven-foot drifts in some places, making driveways impassible. Commercial snowplow drivers are being stretched thin, and some are reportedly assisting the city and borough.
White’s advice to those who absolutely don’t need to leave their homes: Hunker down and enjoy the weather. The forecast is calling for five more inches of snow today and tonight, with mixed rain and snow Wednesday.

Just to let you know Kodiak schools have only closed for weather twice in 12 years. The last time was in 2006.

And then we have this little gem on the way.

FLOOD ADVISORY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ANCHORAGE AK
343 PM AKDT TUE MAR 24 2009

AKZ171-251800-
/O.NEW.PAFC.FA.Y.0005.090324T2343Z-090325T0930Z/
/00000.N.RS.000000T0000Z.000000T0000Z.000000T0000Z.OO/
343 PM AKDT TUE MAR 24 2009

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN ANCHORAGE HAS ISSUED A

* FLOOD ADVISORY FOR RAIN AND MELTING SNOW ALONG THE KODIAK ROAD
SYSTEM...


* IN EFFECT FROM 1000 AM WEDNESDAY TO 500 AM AKDT THURSDAY

* A POWERFUL STORM CURRENTLY OVER THE NORTH PACIFIC IS TRACKING
DIRECTLY TOWARD KODIAK ISLAND AND WILL BRING ANOTHER ROUND OF
STRONG WINDS AND HEAVY PRECIPITATION. SNOW WILL BEGIN TO FALL
OVERNIGHT IN THE FORM OF SNOW...BUT WILL QUICKLY CHANGE TO RAIN
BY TUESDAY MORNING AS WARM AIR SURGES NORTHWARD AHEAD OF THE STORM.
STEADY RAIN WILL CONTINUE THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND THEN DIMINISH
TO SHOWERS ON THURSDAY AS THE STORM MOVES PAST KODIAK ISLAND INTO
THE NORTHERN GULF.

RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF 1.00 TO 1.50 INCHES ARE EXPECTED FROM THIS STORM
ALONG WITH TEMPERATURES WARMING TO NEAR 40 DEGREES WEDNESDAY
AFTERNOON. ALL OF THIS RAIN WILL BE FALLING ON TO A VERY DEEP SNOW
PACK...WITH UP TO 20 INCHES OF SNOW REPORTED FROM THE LAST STORM IN
KODIAK CITY. STORM DRAINS BLOCKED UP BY SNOW AND ICE WILL PROVIDE
NO PLACE FOR THE WATER TO DRAIN. THEREFORE...THE COMBINATION OF RAIN
AND MELTING SNOW WILL CAUSE CONSIDERABLE PONDING OF
WATER...ESPECIALLY IN LOW LYING AREAS AND NEAR CULVERTS AND DRAINAGE
AREAS.

RAIN WILL CAUSE CONSIDERABLE PONDING OF WATER IN LOW LYING AREAS,
NEAR CULVERTS, AND ALONG SMALL CREEKS AND DRAINAGES.

DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE
ROADWAY. THE WATER DEPTH MAY BE TOO GREAT TO ALLOW YOUR CAR TO CROSS
SAFELY. MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND.

A FLOOD ADVISORY MEANS PONDING OF WATER IN URBAN OR OTHER AREAS IS
OCCURRING OR IS IMMINENT.