May Day???

6:00 AM, May 1st, 2013

As I headed out to work yesterday, it was windy, cold and blowing snow.  Nothing at all similar to what we are usually accustomed to on May 1st.  Heck, most years the ground is bare of snow, though usually muddy, and at least some of the rivers have already broken up and started to flow.  Not so, this year.

In my 20 plus years in Alaska, I've never seen winter hang in quite so long.  Some of the guys at work who were born and raised up here and are of a similar age as I say the same thing.  It's pretty newsworthy up here, as this article in yesterday's addition of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner shows.  Although the snowpack has settled some, there is still plenty on the ground and I'm starting to think I may even be able to run some dogs after I've finished some training slated for my next R&R.

Still plenty of snow on the ground.

I'm thinking things are going to be plenty sloppy next week, when we go through our annual firearms training and qualifications for work.  The long range forecast doesn't promise any temperature higher than about 45 degrees.  That is really rare for this time of year, even here in the Interior of Alaska. 

Like me, it's rather odd.