"Alaska hit with another big storm" January 13, 2012|By Associated Press
ANCHORAGE - The worst winter anyone can remember in Alaska has piled snow so high people can’t see out the windows, kept a tanker in ice-choked waters from delivering fuel on time, and turned snow-packed roofs into sled runs.
While most of the nation has gone without much seasonal snow, the state already known for winter is buried in weather that has dumped more than twice as much snow as usual on its largest city, brought out the National Guard, and caused a run on snow shovels.
As a Russian tanker crawled toward the iced-in coastal community of Nome to bring in much-needed fuel, weather-weary Alaskans awoke yesterday to more snow - over a foot was expected to fall in Anchorage - and said enough was enough....
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"Icebreaker helping fuel reach Nome" Associated PresS, January 09, 2012
ANCHORAGE - A Coast Guard icebreaker is cutting a path through icy seas for a Russian tanker carrying much-needed fuel for the iced-in Alaska city of Nome.
So no war with Russia, right?
Related: Global Warming on a Snowy Wednesday Morning
Or Monday as the case may be.
The 370-foot ship, hauling more than 1.3 million gallons of fuel, is scheduled to arrive later today or tomorrow.
Video released by the Coast Guard showed the two vessels moving steadily through ice jammed seas.
I was told the stuff was melting, pfft, pfft, pfft.
“They’re navigating through ice right now, taking a direct route for now,’’ said Jason Evans, the chief executive of Sitnasuak Native Corp., one of the companies undertaking the delivery.
I was told the stuff was melting, pfft, pfft, pfft.
“They’re navigating through ice right now, taking a direct route for now,’’ said Jason Evans, the chief executive of Sitnasuak Native Corp., one of the companies undertaking the delivery.
The city of about 3,500 people in western Alaska normally gets fuel by barge. But it did not get its last prewinter fuel delivery because of a massive storm and it could run out before spring.
The tanker is being shepherded by the Healy, the Coast Guard’s only functioning Arctic icebreaker - a ship of special design with a reinforced hull made to move through ice.
Too many weapons of war on which to waste money.
If the mission is successful, it will be the first time petroleum products have been delivered by sea to a Western Alaska community in winter.
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"Tanker prepares to deliver fuel in icebound Nome" January 16, 2012
ANCHORAGE - The ice that has cut off a remote Alaska city for months will connect it to the world again as crews prepare to build a path over it to carry fuel from a Russian tanker that was moored roughly a half mile from the town’s harbor yesterday.
A Coast Guard cutter cleared a path through hundreds of miles of Bering Sea ice for the tanker as it made its way toward the city of 3,500 on Alaska’s western coastline, where residents are coping with their coldest winter since the 1970s.
PFFFFFFFFFFTT!!!
The tanker got into position Saturday night, and ice disturbed by its journey had to freeze again so workers could create a roadway across the 2,100 feet from the tanker to the harbor in Nome, upon which they’ll rest a hose that will transfer 1.3 million gallons of fuel. It’ll take about four hours to lay the hose, said Jason Evans, board chairman of the Sitnasuak Native Corp.
Workers yesterday were walking around the vessel and checking the ice to make sure it is safe for the transfer. A Coast Guard spokesman didn’t know how long it will be before fuel flows, because crews must wait 12 hours to ensure that the disturbed ice has refrozen.
A storm prevented Nome’s 3,500 residents from getting a fuel delivery in November. Without the tanker delivery, supplies of diesel fuel, gasoline, and home heating fuel in Nome are expected to run out in March and April, well before a barge delivery again in late May or June.
The tanker began its journey from Russia in mid-December and has slowly made its way toward Nome, stalled by thick ice, strong ocean currents, and one Alaska’s snowiest winters in memory. It picked up diesel fuel in South Korea, then headed to Dutch Harbor, Alaska, where it took on unleaded gasoline. Late Thursday, the vessels stopped offshore and began planning the transfer to Nome.
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"Crews to offload fuel to iced-in Nome" January 17, 2012
ANCHORAGE - Crews laid two hoses across a third of a mile of Bering Sea ice yesterday and were hoping to soon begin transferring 1.3 million gallons of fuel from a Russian tanker to the iced-in western Alaska city of Nome....
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"Fuel transfer runs smoothly in iced-in Alaska city" January 18, 2012
ANCHORAGE - This is the first time petroleum products have been delivered to a western Alaska community by sea in winter, and it relied on a Coast Guard icebreaker that cleared a path for the tanker over hundreds of miles. The mayor said festivities were planned, including a Coast Guard helicopter landing on the beach so children can look inside. Officials also set a basketball game between residents and Coast Guard crew members, who were invited to a pizza dinner....
That will give me gas.
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Related:
"A volcano in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands sent up an ash cloud yesterday"
A different kind of gas that didn't linger in my newspaper.
