Photo Credit: cb6379232 days – it took over 30 years for Anchorage to set a new record for the longest snow season on record.
The National Weather Service measured 2/10ths of an inch just after 9 p.m. Friday and 1/10th Saturday morning – breaking the old record of 230 days set in 1981-1982.
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Photo Credit: APAlaska’s remote Pavlof Volcano was shooting lava hundreds of feet into the air, but its ash plume was thinning Saturday and no longer making it dangerous for airplanes to fly nearby.
A narrow ash plume extends a couple hundred miles southeast from the volcano, which is 625 miles southwest of Anchorage, said Geologist Chris Waythomas of the Alaska Volcano Observatory.
The eruption that began Monday seemed to be slowing on Saturday, but Waythomas said that could change at any time.
“Things could ramp up quickly,” he said.
There are no flight restrictions because of the eruption, but pilots are being told to use caution and pay attention, Waythomas said.
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The head of the Internal Revenue Service was ousted amidst controversy that the agency had targeted certain political groups. According to the U.S. Treasury, the IRS delayed processing applications for groups tea party-affiliated groups. Those groups are already very critical of the federal government. Those CBS 11 talked to say firing the head of the agency does little to ease their fears about federal bias.
Since 2010, the Treasury Inspector General said, the IRS has not been fair in processing applications from certain groups seeking tax-exempt status. President Barack Obama addressed Americans in a press conference where he called the scandal an “outrage.”
He announced the resignation of acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller, but former Alaska tea party candidate Joe Miller said that’s not enough. “The people that made that decision, they need to be prosecuted. The house needs to be cleaned. The IRS [needs] to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
Mark Fish is one of the founding members of Alaska’s tea party movement. He said government scrutiny is exactly why his tea party group in Alaska opted not to file tor tax exempt status. “You know, with current events, it looks like some of those fears have been founded.”
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Photo Credit: APA remote Alaska volcano continues to erupt, spewing lava and ash clouds.
The Alaska Volcano Observatory said Thursday a continuous cloud of ash, steam and gas from Pavlof Volcano has been seen 20,000 feet above sea level. The cloud was moving to the southeast Thursday.
John Power, the U.S. Geological Survey scientist in charge at the observatory, estimates the lava fountain rose several hundred feet into the air.
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Photo Credit: Forest Service Geologist Jim BaichtalAbout 10,000 years ago, give or take a couple thousand years, a volcano blew its top in the middle of Behm Canal. The crater is still there, covered by 150 feet or so of ocean. But when the volcano exploded many thousands of years ago, it was not underwater. That’s what makes it so interesting.
Well, that and the fact that nobody currently living knew it was even there until just a few weeks ago.
U.S. Forest Service Geologist Jim Baichtal, who is based on Prince of Wales Island, and Anchorage USGS geologist Sue Karl were looking at some hydrographic surveys, something geologists tend to do.
When we were done, I noticed the area from Thorne Arm to Rudyerd had been surveyed,” Baichtal said. “I zoomed in and there was this large… some kind of volcano, and two other dome-like structures.”
Karl added that, “This new NOAA survey allowed us to see things that people had never seen before.”
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Photo Credit: APDallas Seavey knows what it’s like to mush across the wilds of Alaska. Now it remains to be seen how he survives being dropped off in the middle of that wilderness and navigates his way out without the help of a dog team.
Seavey, 26, who became the youngest Iditarod champion ever when he won the 1,000-mile sled dog race across Alaska last year, is among eight mushers or outdoor adventurers featured in the latest reality show set in Alaska.
“Ultimate Survival Alaska” premieres Sunday (10 p.m. EST) on the National Geographic Channel.
“We took eight of the toughest outdoorsmen in Alaska and actually did something that was true to the nature of National Geographic,” Seavey said. “Anybody who appreciates the outdoors is going to enjoy the show.”
In each episode, the eight participants are taken by plane or helicopter to a different part of Alaska. They must find their way to a pre-arranged landing zone within three days, fighting the harshest elements the state puts in their way, from bears, mountains and raging rivers to guiding their way along a glacier. Spoiler alert: It’s not easy.
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Photo Credit: YouTubeA flock of eagles descended on the Safeway parking lot last week, prompting police intervention.
Public Safety Director Jamie Sunderland says several people called in short succession on Thursday afternoon to report the melee.
“One of our officers went over there and there were 40 eagles sitting on, in and around several vehicles in the area,” Sunderland said.
Sunderland says the eagles were feasting on garbage bags of fish product in the bed of a pickup truck. Public Safety contacted the truck owner:
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Photo Credit: APRussian strategic bombers conducted flights within the U.S. defense zone close to northern Alaska and the Aleutian Islands last week in Moscow’s latest incident of nuclear saber rattling against the United States, according to defense and military officials.
Two Bear H nuclear-capable bombers were detected flying into the military’s Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) near the Aleutians, where a strategic missile defense radar is located, and Alaska’s North Slope region by the Arctic and Chukchi Seas on April 28 and 29, military officials told the Washington Free Beacon.
Lt. Cmdr. Bill Lewis, a spokesman with the U.S. Northern Command, confirmed the fighter intercept of the latest bomber incursion but declined to provide details.
“Two U.S. F-22′s from Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, were launched and visually identified Russian aircraft on the night of April 28, as the Russian Air Force flew standard out of area flights near Alaska,” Lewis said.
The bombers did not enter U.S. airspace, he said.
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Photo Credit: NASA Goddard Photo and VideoAlaska’s Cleveland Volcano is undergoing a continuous low-level eruption following an explosion early Saturday morning, scientists from the Alaska Volcano Observatory and the U.S. Geological Survey said.
Satellites and cameras suggest low-level emissions of gas, steam and ash, scientists said, and satellites detected highly elevated surface temperatures at the summit. A faint plume of ash extended eastward below 15,000 feet, but the Federal Aviation Administration said there were no flight restrictions as a result.
“Sudden explosions of blocks and ash are possible with little or no warning,” scientists said. “Ash clouds, if produced, could exceed 20,000 feet above sea level.”
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Photo Credit: YouTubeA video that has gone viral since its posting earlier this week has spawned an investigation into the actions of two Alaska State Troopers in Kodiak.
Since the woman’s arrest, the state has charged her with several counts of assault, resisting arrest, and disorderly conduct.
After watching this video, you will likely find these charges difficult to believe: