Alaska Picture of the Day

 
 


Photo by Sharon Chamard, April 25, 2008

 This was taken at about 10 PM on April 25th this spring in my backyard in downtown Anchorage.  The snowfall that day was a record for the date, and this was a surreal Alaskan moment--it was still light outside, even at that late hour, yet almost two feet of snow was falling.  This late snow disturbed gardeners, hikers, and anyone else who looks forward to the short Alaskan summer.  But the skiers and snowmobilers were happy; the snow added about two weeks to the winter sport season. 

Here's a link to a story in the Anchorage Daily News about this snowfall.

   
   
   
 

Previous Pictures of the Day

 
 

Photo by Sharon Chamard, May 8, 2008


MAP SHOWING LOCATION OF NOME

 This is the view from the cemetery in Nome.  Nome is a town of about 3,500 people located 540 miles NW of Anchorage.  Incorporated in 1901, during the height of its gold rush days from 1899-1909, Nome was the most populous city in Alaska.

In 1925, a diphtheria epidemic threatened the children of Nome.  Because it was the winter, it was too dangerous to fly.  During some of the most severe winter weather ever seen, a series of dog sled teams carried a wooden box containing antitoxin serum from Nenana (near Fairbanks) to Nome, a distance of 674 miles, in 127 hours.  This was a trip that ordinarily took 25 days. 

This feat is memorialized today by "The Last Great Race on Earth," the Iditorod, which covers a distance of about 1,049 miles.  More people have reached the peak of Mount Everest than have successfully completed the Iditarod.

In Anchorage, residents traditionally keep their outdoor and winter decorative lighting on continuously until the last Iditarod racer arrives safely in Nome.