Hayes Creek residents urged to leave as Hastings Fire nears

This thing is getting crazy. We could see the smoke plume from college road yesterday afternoon. The Newsminer is reporting that it has burned more than 12,000 acres already and some nearby residents are being asked to leave.

Hayes Creek residents urged to leave as Hastings Fire nears: "Updated 11:50 p.m.
FAIRBANKS — Residents of Hayes Creek Subdivision were advised to leave Monday as firefighters prepared to initiate a burnout procedure on the Hastings Fire.
A burnout, often..."

Hastings Fire

A new fire is burning a little further north and west of the Moose Mountain fire of last week right on the Chatanika River. Just like with the previous fire the forest service is fiercely fighting to keep homes in the area safe. These people are amazing.



Kate and I saw a fire burning near the same location just last night, but not in either of the two places we saw fires today (there were two fires visible, but one was far in the distance and probably not much of a threat). The closest one was big with a large area looking like it had already burnt everything that it could.

The Newsminer is reporting that although the vegetation in the area is less flammable, it's not accessible to the bulldozers to create a fire breaks. From our vantage point northwest of Murphy Dome it looked like an all-out aerial assault. Helicopters were dropping water every time I looked into the viewfinder. They must have just been pulling water out of the river. The ducks were out too dropping massive amounts of water on and ahead of the fire.





Firefighters wait to go in to the Chatanika fire while others load up on Murphy Dome. These operations are awesome to watch. These people are amazing at the things they do.

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Update from the Newsminer 5/31:
Hastings Fire grows, destroys cabin; new fires reported off CHSR: "FAIRBANKS - Three wildfires were burning in the Fairbanks area Tuesday, the latest in a string that have sprung up as the Interior continues to bake under high temperatures.
The Hastings Fire, bu..."

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner: BP Alaska president to speak on tax structure

Last week we got to listen to the ConocoPhillips Chief executive whine about how difficult things are in the oil industry and that they need tax breaks and incentives to do it. Now we get to hear it from BP. The bill in question doesn't make any provisions that the tax cuts given to these companies be used for drilling or exploration in Alaska. Which means there are no provisions that they would even provide Alaska jobs. It does however have a provision to look at the bill again in three years. In fact, the bill allows the oil companies to take all of the money out of the state. But, you know, I have a lot of faith that these oil companies will do the right thing.

BP Alaska president to speak on tax structure: "ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The group seeking changes in Alaska's oil tax structure is hosting another meeting featuring a representative of one of Alaska's big three oil producers.

BP Alaska President ..."

APRN had another good piece here.

And the Wall Street Journal here.

Blah

We woke up to an inch of fresh snow on top of the old crusty snow and ice. Trying to look at the bright side of things, I decided it was so fluffy that it really only amounted to a half-inch.



The forecast is for 1-3 inches today, then a little bit of a cool-down for the remainder of the week. It could be worse though, we could live just a little bit south or north of Fairbanks where 100+ mile-per-hour winds are blowing roofs off of homes:

From the News Miner:
Storm packing hurricane-force winds slams Alaska; travel advisories issued for Richardson, Parks: "Updated at 6:20 a.m.

FAIRBANKS — High winds and heavy snow brought travel trouble across most of the state Thursday, although the severe weather generally skipped Fairbanks.
However, the snow..."

Right darn crazy Alaska weather.

Climate Change: It's Confusing Business

No clouds last month. Wow, the average low in Fairbanks in March was -11° F!

March was warmer, and colder, than normal in Fairbanks: "FAIRBANKS — March was both warmer and colder than normal, and that contrast set a new record, according to the National Weather Service.
The sunny month brought mild days with an average high temp..."

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner - Alaska seeing impact of climate change in its infrastructure villages

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner - Alaska seeing impact of climate change in its infrastructure villages

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner - Extreme high pressure system may affect Alaska aviation

The weather this month has been crazy. Started out the New Year 40-50 degrees above average and it has remained pretty mild. Today it's really windy which is very abnormal for Faibanks. Now there is this too!

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner - Extreme high pressure system may affect Alaska aviation