Except for, perhaps, when the fireweed is in full bloom, Kotzebue is prettiest when there's a layer of freshly fallen snow over everything! I was wondering when it would snow. Actually, it did snow just a little earlier this week, Thursday morning, I think, but it didn't cover the ground and was gone by mid morning. However, even that seemed late. Of course, I'm only going into my third winter here, but based on what other people say, the first snowfall usually happens in September. Not this year. I was trying to find some historic weather data for Kotzebue, but was unsuccessful. I did find some interesting summaries for Anchorage. I think Kotz would be fairly different, though. There would be a lag in temps and begin/end dates, for sure. Anchorage probably gets much more snowfall as well. The amount of snowfall in Kotzebue isn't much. We meet the definition of a cold desert, a desert having < 9 inches annual precipitation. Just for reference, though, here's what I found for earliest and latest dates for first snowfall in Anchorage. The entire page can be seen here.
My neighbor is into yard sales and always finds out if there are any and where to they are (addresses are a different animal here; I'll write on that another time). Last week there were none, and I thought with the weather getting colder, and now with snow starting to fall, that we had probably seen the last of them until spring. Space is a premium here, though, so if you have to get rid of things, you find a way. There were, indeed two sales. One was inside. I got a little knife for free that I'll add to my survival kit. The other one was outside, and I picked up a few hangers.
Now I have to take advantage of this Saturday of a three-day weekend and use those hangers to do some long-awaited cleaning and organizing. This snow won't stick around, but it's usually here for good before Halloween, and I have to be able to get to my boots and snow pants!
