What a mostly snowless winter means for the rest of the year | Hometown, Alaska

Don’t let this recent snowfall fool you. Anchorage had a historically low snow year. On this episode we find out what that lack of snow means for everything—from fire to mosquitos. We did get our usual Fool’s Spring last week, with about four inches of snowfall happening right when we thought we were in the clear.

Earlier this year, the National Weather Service reported Anchorage had received 4.3 inches of snow from December 1 to February 17, the lowest snowfall ever recorded in Anchorage’s history. We received as much snow in about one day last week, than we did for the entire 80 days of our deepest winter months.

So what does this nearly snowless winter mean for our spring and our summer? What does it mean for the fire season, the mosquito population, the bears or for gardening? On today’s show we’ll cover all of those questions with experts from around the state.

HOST: Dave Waldron

GUESTS:

Stephanie Dufek, Wildland Urban Interface Project Manager for the Anchorage Fire Department

Cory Stantorf, biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game

Rich Irvin, Co-President of the Alaska Master Gardeners Anchorage

Derek Sikes, President of the Alaska Entomological Society and the Curator of Insects at the University of Alaska Museum of the North

LINKS:

Anchorage Fire Department

AFD Fire Prevention

AFD Wildfire Division

Alaska Department of Fish and Game: Species Information

ADFG: Living With Bears

Alaska Master Gardeners Anchorage

Alaska Entomological Society

University of Alaska Museum of the North: Entomology

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