Five September storms, so far -- is this climate change? [View all]

[Blue_In_AK]

I hate to keep harping on Alaska's really weird weather over the past year, but I believe we are the "canaries in the coal mine" when it comes to the global climate change. Since Alaska's weather doesn't get a lot of press in the Lower 48, I just want to keep "you people" informed. My friend Phil Munger at Progressive Alaska has posted a really good analysis of our September storms and what this could possibly portend for the increased drilling offshore of Alaska in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas, one of the very worst ideas to come along in a while, in my opinion. This is worth the read. Some nice pictures, too, of our recent flooding and wind damage.

http://progressivealaska.blogspot.com/2012/09/five-september-storms-so-far-is-this.html

I. The waves of winds and rains that have pummeled Southcentral Alaska since the beginning of September come on top of a fairly moist and chilly summer, and a winter that broke snow records in many places.

The flooding in Seward, the Kenai Peninsula and Mat-Su Borough late this week, the worst in decades in many places, would have been much worse had Friday been as moist as Wednesday and Thursday. As it is, scores of millions of dollars of damage have been done to private property and public infrastructure:

The Alaska Railroad:

Floodwaters have stopped all train traffic between Anchorage and Fairbanks, washed out the Denali Highway and caused serious problems on the Parks Highway.

The Alaska Railroad was washed out north of Talkeetna on Friday, halting all northbound train traffic until Monday.

A 500-foot section of track just south of Gold Creek was washed out and several bridges are at risk between Willow and Talkeetna.



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