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Old 02-01-2002, 10:53 PM   #6
AutoXr
Scooby Newbie
 
Member#: 2047
Join Date: Aug 2000
Chapter/Region: AKIC
Location: South Central, Alaska
Vehicle:
'04 Audi S4
Red

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Just want to clear something up that was stated eralier. Contrary to what WRXnFX1974 commented on, most of the goods in Anchorage are shipped in on container ships or flown in. I think that there's at least 6 ships a week, something like that. We do not have UPS or FedEx ground service so shipping parts is way expensive.


Check out my web page . It's a bit old, but has some good pictures of Alaska on it. Here's more pictures of Alaska on my bro's web site.

Alaska has several mountain peaks above 16,000 ft. Alaska also has the most glaciated mountain range anywhere, the Chugach Range which stretches from ANchorage west to the Wrangell Mountains.

Winter lasts from October to sometime in March or April. Last year we had over a foot of snow at the house in early May. During Winter, the ground is always covered with snow except on rare occasions. When the snow and ice melt in Spring, we refer to this as "Break-up" since the ice on rivers "breaks-up" and goes out in a short time.

During the winter we have a low of 5.5 hours of daylight, butdugint the summer Anchorage gets up to 19.5 hours. Because of the lack of sunshine and intensity of sun, no melting takes place on the roads unless the temp. goes above 32. This is great for hard core rally drivers (wannabes) who like to tear it up.

Summers (trees with leaves) lasts from late May to mid September. We typically get frost ony 2 to 3 weeks before we get snow in an average year. Temps during summer are usually in the mid 60s to mid 70s in the Anchorage area. In the interior (Fairbanks) temps reach 90 on a regular basis (from what I am told).

Anchorage has more cloudy/rainy days than Seattle in an average year.

Winters can be brutal in the Interior where temperatures can get down to -70F without a wind chill. While this seems bad, "it's a dry cold". In Anchorage we typically hit -25 to -35 in an average winter. While Anchorage may seem really cold, it's usually not windy when it's that cold. During winter we get a weather phenomenon called a temperature inversion where the surface temps are much lower than just a few thousand feet up. This causes polution to be trapped at ground level and can become very bad at times. Usually we dont' have this much at all.


While Alaska doesn't have a lot of roads, it is very deceiving. A drive from Anchorage to Fairbanks is over 300 miles.

Lakes are almost never warm enough to swim in. There are a few exceptions, but usually they are too cold. Incidentally, jet skiing is a major summer sport for some people who wear wet and sometimes dry suits to stay warm while in the water.

I get SpeedVision {SpeedChannel) on my Dish Network system. I understand that it is available on cable in Anchorage too.

Leaving Alaska and traveling to the lower 48 after you've been here awhile is a bit of a shock. Not as bad as it used to be, but still a very different experience. We refer to the experience as "culture shock" and the actual trip as going "outside".

Food is more expensive than in the lower 48, especially prepared food from resteraunts.

Last time I checked, the cost of living was something like 1.3x the national average. Jobs pay is highly dependant on the industry you are in. We typically have good paying professional jobs and a few other areas too, but don't count on it.

We have a 16-plex movie theatre across the street from where I work. We get all the latest releases at the same time as the lower 48.

Ancorage has no deer, mostly moose. Other critters include lynx, bear (black and brown/grizzly), all 5 varieties of Pacific salmon, trout, etc, squirrels, rabbits, mink, fox, and bunches of other furry things I'm forgetting. The inlet around Anchorage has whales too.

Hope this answers more of your curiosities.
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