January Cold Snap

January has been a pretty interesting month in terms of our weather. We started off the New Year with a week of rain bringing us over 7" of rain. This did a nice job of packing down the 6 feet of snow we had in December.

Then the wind switched to the north and we had eight cold clear days. Southeast Alaska has a relatively moderate climate compared to the interior. Our lows were down around 10 degrees with highs in the upper teens or low 20's.

After a couple of cold days like this we start to get ice forming around the edges of the bay.

The sun has also come above the mountains to the south. We are getting about an hour of sun a day (on the clear days).

Feral likes her new ice skating rink. This is formed from an overflow line we open when the weather gets cold. The overflow keeps water moving in our domestic waterline to prevent it from freezing (in theory).

The water in the bay gets really clear in the winter. Here some Sun Flower Stars are visible in the crystal clear water framed between chunks of ice.

Did I mention that we keep water running through our overflow and also running in the faucets to keep the waterline from freezing? Well, even doing that and with the waterlines buried under many feet of snow, we have found that extended cold periods always end up with the waterline freezing.

Last Wednesday we were watching a movie after dinner. We had been using our cold-weather water procedures for several days (including keeping the water running in the toilet and through the faucets), but suddenly the volume of water running out of the faucets diminished and it became eerily quiet. I opened the front door--the overflow (normally very noisy as the water sprays out of the nozzle) was quiet. I went under the deck to check and found no water running.

Back inside, the water in the kitchen and bathroom sinks was down to a steady drip even with the faucets wide open. We put a 5-gallon bucket in the kitchen sink to start collecting water, but within 10 minutes the flow was completely dead and we had only collected a couple gallons of water in the bucket. We enjoyed a nice silent night with no obnoxious sounds of water running from within, and gushing from without.

The next morning we woke up not only to no running water, but to find the power a little low. This is the next stage in our cold weather battle--maintaining our hydro power. It took about 15 minutes before we ran out of things to turn off, so it was time to head up to the hydro intake to check for ice blocking the grate. I must note that this is the first winter we have ever lost power in the light of breaking dawn. We are usually awakend by the alarm for low power in the pitch black middle of the night. This was a treat to head out in daylight. I threw my snowshoes into a pack in case I might need them, grabbed the ice axe, and headed up the trail. This is another anomaly. Usually there is so much snow that the only way to hike up to the intake is in snowshoes. But with the latest rain and then cold weather, the snow was hard and crusty and easier to negotiate without snowshoes. I was able to clear the intake of ice and we got enough power to run lights and electronics, but not our baseboard heaters.

Jen came up with me the next day to check the grate, since our power was waning again. I'm standing on top of the pool that feeds the hydro line. There was lots of water behind the dam, but ice had formed again on the grate., which I cleared with the ice axe.

A 5-gallon bucket with the bottom cut out let's me see the grate. Here the grate is just about clear. Yes, that is an old milk crate that makes a great grate!

It was another sunny day--clear, cold and windy.

We have a rope to help us up and down the steepest part of the trail. In heavy snow years the rope is long gone, buried deep in the snow. This is the toughest part of the steep hill to negotiate without the aid of the rope.

Of course Feral went along with us to check things out--she likes to go hiking with us.

She's trying to sweet talk me into letting her play with the ice axe.

Once the waterline freezes, we have to carry water in 5-gallon buckets down to the lodge. We had to knock the ice that formed around the hydro exhaust off so we could fill the buckets.

Normally one 5-gallon would last Jen and me about 5 weeks. But the load controller on our hydro electric system diverts current into a couple water heaters to regulate the frequency of our electricity. This ends up boiling away the water inside the water heaters, so we have to manually add water, keeping the elements from going dry and burning up. I add 5 to 10 gallons of water to the system 3 or 4 times a day. This photo shows our neat and orderly system of wiring and plumbing that keeps the water heaters full.

The cold temperatures came up to around freezing a few days ago. Since then, we've had about 2 feet of snow. The days we worry about are when they forecast an inch of snow--that usually gives us 6 to 8". Conversely, we did have a winter storm warning two days ago--we ended up with 4" after a forecast of a foot!

Sadie Creek is completely covered with snow and ice.

Today (Wednesday, Jan. 19th) we have another one of those days calling for an inch of snow. It's been snowing all morning with no end in sight. We are warm and dry in the house with full power and running water. During the cold spell, the woodstove kept the temperature in the house in the low 50's. Jen was parked next to the woodstove with her scarf, jacket, and a blanket wrapped around her. I even wore two sets of long johns in the house and was finally able to wear my new slippers, which had been too hot for me to wear.

Life is good!