What's the daily life in Ketchikan like?

[Arktikos]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

Perhaps you should have used Google; you might have gotten the average rainfall amount correct.

I'm not curious what you think it is. I said approximately 155 inches. It's 153.7. KETCHIKAN INTL AP, ALASKA - Climate Summary

I wrote a letter to the editor of the Hilo Tribune Herald many years ago to dispute their claim that Hilo is the rainiest city in the US. At the time, the data showed Ketchikan at 162 in/year, while Hilo is 129.

Since then, I've discovered there are a couple places in Hawaii even wetter, though they can't really be called towns. People live there, however. Glenwood is 230 inches, while Mt. View is around 190.

Go ahead and Google them. You'll find Mountain View, but not Glenwood.

[Metlakatla]

Ketchikan has had an average rainfall of 141.25 inches over the last 30 years, which is 261% more than the average nationwide, and 265% more than the average in Alaska.

It is the 13th rainiest city in the United States.

https://rainfall.weatherdb.com/l/13539/Ketchikan-Alaska

Plenty of other sources have it at more than 10 inches less. I notice Wiki has it has 153, and Sperling's Best Places (not exactly a reliable source) has it at 152. I wonder where the discrepancy comes from. Rainfall rates vary pretty significantly on Revillagigedo Island; it's rains much more up around the Silvis Lake area -- like 60 inches per year more than the average in Ketchikan proper.

ETA obligatory eye rolls back at Cleric: :roll eyes:


I have work to do and am not interested enough in Hawaii to Google anything about it.

Anyway, about the cruise, OP -- you might be better off flying up for a vacation during the shoulder season (as in May maybe) and staying in an Air B and B in the downtown area.

[Metlakatla]

Before I forget, I was over in Ketch last month and noticed a nice little Air B and B cottage that was up a bunch of stairs. It was close to downtown and Creek Street -- think it was called the Blueberry Cottage. It was bright blue.

[Arktikos]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

..

Plenty of other sources have it at more than 10 inches less.

People really interested in weather understand that those sources don't have the credibility of NOAA, the NWS and the WRCC. Your interest was finding fault in my posts, obviously a failure in this case.

Then again, some may prefer to go with the local lore. The old billboard rain gauge proudly displayed in Ketchikan that I recall-anyone else?- claimed 12.5 ft. as the average.

Apparently that old gauge has since been replaced by a fancy, $100,000 contraption, though I haven't been there recently enough to appreciate it.

As Ray Troll observed, Ketchikan residents are fiercely, and somewhat oddly, proud of their rainfall.

Yes indeed, Silvis lake takes the rainfall cake.

[Metlakatla]

You could set up rain gauges all over Revillagigedo Island and get drastically different rainfall amounts, which was my point.

Your interest was finding fault in my posts, obviously a failure in this case.

Just returning the favor. You seem to live to cry about mine. Pretty sure your failure rate far surpasses mine in that respect.

[Arktikos]

Ketchikan has hydro electric grid power, and one of the lowest rates in the state at 10 cents/KWH.

[Music_Man]

Not many solar panels sold in Ketchikan!

[Moshe Steinberg]

Originally Posted by MillennialUrbanist

Good replies so far. Well, mostly. Now, how about this question: How would someone like me fit in there? Namely, single man, 30-something, atheist (but quiet about it unless directly asked). Also, a Latin dance scene would be nice, since it's good for meeting women; is it any good in Ketchican?

The salmon part is really nice; I like fish. Is it cheap there, or pretty much the same as in Lower 48? Which is about $4.99 a pound, slightly less during salmon season. And being Jewish (culturally), I always enjoy good salmon, like on a bagel or baked with a lemon pepper dry rub.

Keep in mind that these questions are largely hypothetical. As my name suggests, I like urban environments, and Ketchikan isn't that big. Plus, I need my ethnic food fix, and shorts and T-shirt weather at least 3 months out of a year. (Chicago has the food, but I had to wear a jacket in June multiple times.) Also, how good is the IT job market in Ketchikan? Any good? Doesn't matter which industry.

Based upon your criteria, you'd fit in perfectly with the millennial hipster-scene in NYC. As you can probably tell by my name, I'm Jewish as well, albeit very old-school. I grew-up there back in the '70s. I wish you could have seen what it was like at that time. Through the eighties and nineties. I even worked in the original WTC for a while (North Tower, 54th floor). After 9/11 (really it began in 1995 after Giuliani took over), and particularly coming to a head around 2006, at least that's when it really hit me, all of a sudden I felt like a stranger in the place where I'd spent my entire life. It is completely foreign to me now and I really have no intention of ever visiting it again, much less actually living there. It's completely lost its soul and it's just too depressing to deal with anymore. So I live in Philadelphia instead. At least it's still *real* there.

[brk330]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1xg8tOaaQQ

LOL. The Ratfish Wranglers is one of the best things about Ketchikan.

Thank you for reviving this old thread, blew my mind to see Silver Lining Seafoods again. None of the girls looked like that when I worked the slime line. I lived in a tent at the base or Deer Mountain behind the KPU building and walked an hour to work, 12- 18 hours a night, 7 nights a week, deciding if a salmon filet was worthy of salmon burger or cat food.

[eddie gein]

Originally Posted by brk330

Thank you for reviving this old thread, blew my mind to see Silver Lining Seafoods again. None of the girls looked like that when I worked the slime line. I lived in a tent at the base or Deer Mountain behind the KPU building and walked an hour to work, 12- 18 hours a night, 7 nights a week, deciding if a salmon filet was worthy of salmon burger or cat food.

Love it. Always wondered who the deciders between salmon burgers and cat food were........

And I have some dogs and cats and people in this house that thank you for your service.