There it was--today’s Anchorage Daily Newspaper--blown to the middle of the road by the 50-MPH breeze we were experiencing this morning. It made me think of how what others would call “extreme weather” is so routine to those of us who live in Eagle River and Anchorage. It is part of our living-in-Alaska bravado! So, what is the weather like in Eagle River? And how does it affect us?
Eagle River is in what some Alaskan’s call the “banana belt,” a reference to its warmer climate (when compared to Fairbanks). Average temperatures in the summer range between 50 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit and in the winter between 0 and 30. Extremes in summer reach 85 and in winter, 25 below. Our secret to comfort, though, is our low humidity. Once acclimated, you can play golf in shirtsleeves in the summer at 60 degrees, and you won’t need much more than a sweater until we get into the 30’s. In fact, sourdoughs (those who have lived in Alaska for more than a few years) dress in layers throughout the winter and bring out their heavy stuff at about 0. These temperatures seldom require air conditioning, so most of our homes have none—but of course a good heater is quite important, and a cozy fireplace is useable about 8 months of the year.
It might surprise you that “hurricane force” winds are common here. Depending on the front that is moving across our mountain ranges, primarily the Chugach, today’s 50-MPH breeze is an every month occurrence. We get 80-MPH winds 6 or 7 times a year. That fact invites a close inspection of any home you are considering, to ensure the roof has 100-MPH shingles.
It has been a particularly rainy Summer, with very few sunny days since about the 4th of July. (It’s all good—the fish still bite in the rain.) July usually has less rain than August, often causing alarm at the dryness of the local hillsides and some concerns about wildfires both in the city and throughout the State. But this year, the clouds provide a different vision of the mountains and the inlet, every day. My awe at our views continues, with something different to notice, daily. I marvel at the Creation!
But what about precipitation in the winter? Yes, we get it—and some years lots of it. Expect to see snow (affectionately known as “termination dust”) (go on, ask me, Why?) on the mountains beginning in mid-September. And from about the end of October until the middle of April, you are likely to have snow in your yard. Some days it will cause you to get up early to shovel your driveway, and some days you’ll work on it when you get home from work—or better yet, have the kids shovel it when they get home from school, because it is fairly certain that they went to school, even if it was snowing. It takes a pretty heavy snow storm to close schools here. I cannot recall even one snow day last year, and I do recall several days when I had to remove 8 inches of snow from my driveway. That makes a snow-blower a very important tool in one’s shed.
All this snow gives some plausibility to the jocular phrase, “Alaska has 4 seasons—June, July, August and Winter!” Alaskans revel in them all!
All of the above is written from personal experience and has absolutely no basis in researched scientific records. But, I am certainly willing to share my experience(s) living in Alaska with you. And I am certainly available to help you buy or sell a home in Alaska. For more information on homes for sale in Eagle River, Alaska, click here.