Angry Sky and Angry Mountains

Taken in downtown Juneau this morning.

The weather has been what I suppose is more Juneau-like recently, than what I have enjoyed these past two months since I arrived in Alaska.  The day I landed in Juneau (January 9) it was 20 degrees colder in Tennessee than it was here.  And that has been the prevailing weather-theme all this time - cold and snowy in Tennessee and mild and rainy in Juneau.  No more. 

I doubt that we will see the kinds of snowfall that Juneau experienced last winter (over 200 inches), but the past week has been a non-stop combination of rain, sleet, snow and high winds.

On Monday morning I was scheduled to be at work by 5:30am.  At 4:50am I walked outside into the cold and dark, and found a snow covered ice-box that looked very much like my car.  My locks were frozen solid.  My doors were frozen solid.  Everything was buried under a sheet of icy-snow.  After spending 30 minutes clearing off some of the ice and snow, and then trying to unfreeze my locks and/or unjam a door (any door), I reluctantly called work to tell them that 5:30am wasn't going to happen. 

After warming up back in the house, I did some research on the internet and tried again.  My locks began to move a bit, so I knew that I was making some progress, but I was beginning to get worried that I was going to mess up the seals around my doors because of all the prodding and poking I had placed on them with both a screwdriver and a ice scraper.  For the first time I was relieved that I did not have a brand new car whose paint job I also had to be concerned about.

Evenutally my Mountain Boy made the suggestion of slightly warmed water around the door, and that turned out to be what worked.  And then I drove very s-l-o-w-l-y to work on icy roads, all the while watching for stalled out and ditched vehicles (of which there were a few).  60 minutes after leaving my driveway I finally arrived at work, cold, tired and ready for a nap.

The bands of snow showers, as with other weather fronts in this area, are extremely isolated.  When I left work this afternoon the snow was extremely heavy, with low visibility, and high winds.  It was still snowing heavily when I arrived in the Valley.  But by the time I hit Auke Bay there was no snow at all.  And by the time I got home it was not even raining.  Just a quiet, calm and grey early evening. 

Some more pictures taken downtown on what was a cold and grey morning this morning.  Not a soul on the streets of Juneau..........

Views from my office - the first picture was taken mid-afternoon, and the second and third pictures were taken only 10 minutes later when heavy bands of snow completely obliterated the mountains I had just photographed.

For the past few days I have not viewed Juneau as a beautiful place, as I have for the past two months.  Rather the sky, the water, the mountains, have taken on a rough, violent and unwelcoming edge to them recently.  It is vaguely unsettling for me right now but I know that those feelings are only transitory.   

With the waters in the channel crashing and full of whitecaps, and with the angry sky and mountains, I am reminded that I am not living in just some wonderful and beautiful place.  I am living in Alaska.

And Alaska is not only filled with beauty.  It is also filled with angry and brutal nature. 

I am truly aware now, (and understand better now) that whenever something happens like my unexpected trip downhill in my car and walking outside in the cold and dark at 4:50 in the morning only to find an ice-box-vehicle, that I am alone in Alaska. 

Those experiences remind me of how far I live from town.  That bears are beginning to wake.  That the mountains are beautiful but can be dangerous.  That help can be a distance away.  That I can continue to everyday relish in this wonderful place, but that I must not take it for granted......I took this picture sometime over the last day or so, but honestly cannot remember where or when.