Question About Wasilla & Palmer ... (living in, airport, suite)

[Glitch]

Originally Posted by Carla Johnson

Thanks for all the good input on the "wind" in Palmer/Wasilla, but what months of the year is the
wind that strong? We were seriously considering moving to that area but need more information about
the area. How much snow does it average during the winter, also the temperatures, and months of wind? Thanks for any input.

As Marty said, the high winds occur during the winter months. The Chinook Winds, which typically comes in January, moves up from the south and brings a lot of warm air with it. It has been known to warm up the entire Mat-Su Valley by +30°F or more while the winds blow.

The average annual snowfall for the Valley is about 72", just slightly less than Anchorage. The closer you live toward the mountains, the more snow you will get. It is also slightly colder than Anchorage in the winter by maybe 5°F to 10°F, and slightly warmer in the summer. Our biggest snow months are December and March. December and February also tend to be our coldest months. The first snowfall is usually somewhere around October 15th, and break-up occurs usually during the first week of May.

Keep in mind that the measurements, amounts, and dates specified above are based upon averages and can vary considerably from one winter to the next.

[cjg5]

Is it common for areas to have huge variances in snow depth due to the high winds blowing them around? Bare or close to bare spots in some places with deep drifts in others? Also curious if the Chinook winds melt previous snowfall away, and melt ice, or if they aren't warm enough or last long enough for that.

[Anch-Wasilla-Fairbanks]

You can always have drifting... We found that it all depends upon the year. Some falls have lots of snowfall and then you may have drifting. Other years the snow may not really fall until March and then there is not nearly the drifting issue as it is the entire ground seems bare. We found that wind in Anchorage and Fairbanks signified a change in the weather. In Wasilla and Palmer, wind IS the weather. My husband hated the wind... drifts from Wasilla lake across the highway, the car being pushed around while driving, and shopping carts on the loose in the Walmart parkinglot causing scratches on cars and loss of small children who are waiting to get out of said cart (ok, I am exaggerating a bit... I always got my kids out before the cart took off and I was responsible enough to take the cart to a spot the wind would not push it). Valley means wind... just the way it works. Fairbanks has no wind and a lot more sun... just a thought. :-)

[Glitch]

Originally Posted by cjg5

Is it common for areas to have huge variances in snow depth due to the high winds blowing them around? Bare or close to bare spots in some places with deep drifts in others? Also curious if the Chinook winds melt previous snowfall away, and melt ice, or if they aren't warm enough or last long enough for that.

This Chinook Winds usually last long enough, and are warm enough, to melt the ice off the roads, but usually not all the snow. The first couple of days the winds blow is particularly dangerous because as the snow and ice melt it become glaze ice ("black ice") until the roads are completely clear.

We might lose about a foot or more of snow cover by the time the Chinook Winds finish to blowing, but there is usually a couple feet of snow already on the gound by then. The wind storms last anywhere from a week to 10 days, and may occur two or three times per year. They are not continual.

As Anch-Wasilla-Farbanks said above, the Fairbanks area does not get the wind storms the Valley gets, and they do get a lot more sunny days than the Valley. It is also about 20°F colder during the winter, and about 20°F warmer during the summer in the Fairbanks area when compared with the Valley.

[cjg5]

Originally Posted by Anch-Wasilla-Fairbanks

In Wasilla and Palmer, wind IS the weather.

I've always wondered the accuracy of the charts on CD. If this post is correct (and I would be more believing of those who experience it first hand, unless they are exaggerating), then these charts must be grossly off:

Anchorage:




Wasilla:



Palmer:



Fairbanks:



Admittedly Fairbanks is calmer during the winter months, but there also seems to be several months of much higher average wind speed there in comparison to valley locations + Anchorage.

All better, however, than Juneau!

Juneau:



Wasilla and Palmer are even less windy, according to these charts, than my current city of Seattle.

Seattle:

[heathen]

Hmm, yeah those charts seem pretty weird to me too. However, even if they are correct, averages mean very little. Anchorage and the Mat-Su have a lot of very calm days weighing down the average, but when the wind blows at all, it's likely to be making life miserable, since it comes along with wet coastal storms, or bitterly cold interior air in the winter. In Fairbanks, thunderstorms and convective showers are common in the early summer months and those kick up some local winds. So, you've got a gusty, partly cloudy, 68 degree afternoon in Fairbanks, or 4 days straight, at 2 above zero, with constant 40mph winds. Which will stick out in your memory more?

[Marty Van Diest]

Seems to me the charts are wrong. In Palmer we regularly get 90 mph winds in the winter. Sometimes they are over 100. When it's blowing that hard it's usually about 0 degrees farenheit.

[GnomadAK]

If they measure the Wasilla wind at the airport, of course it won't be reflected by the expereince of those who live in the wind zone. The airport is out on the western side where it doesn't blow but is much colder. As I peck this out, the wind is blowing in Wasilla as it has all week, but today it isn't that bad.

It can be wierd. We've gone out for a drive around the Butte and you can literally see aline from warm and windy to calm and cold by the frost on the trees.

[Glitch]

Originally Posted by GnomadAK

If they measure the Wasilla wind at the airport, of course it won't be reflected by the expereince of those who live in the wind zone. The airport is out on the western side where it doesn't blow but is much colder. As I peck this out, the wind is blowing in Wasilla as it has all week, but today it isn't that bad.

It can be wierd. We've gone out for a drive around the Butte and you can literally see aline from warm and windy to calm and cold by the frost on the trees.

Very true. That is why I use Knik instead of Wasilla. It is much closer to where I live near Settler's Bay, and it is more representative of true wind speeds. But even then those winds coming down the Matanuska/Knik Valley through the Palmer flats are much stronger. By the time those winds get to me, they are already beginning to disperse. Plus, while owning the lowest of the surrounding properties has its disadvantages during break-up, it is a definite advantage during those 100+ mph wind storms.

The Knik/Settler's Bay area is, on average, +3°F to +5°F warmer than Anchorage during the summer, and -3°F to -5°F cooler than Anchorage during the winter, with 6" to 12" less snow than Anchorage.

[Moose Whisperer]

Originally Posted by GnomadAK

If they measure the Wasilla wind at the airport, of course it won't be reflected by the expereince of those who live in the wind zone. The airport is out on the western side where it doesn't blow but is much colder. As I peck this out, the wind is blowing in Wasilla as it has all week, but today it isn't that bad.

It can be wierd. We've gone out for a drive around the Butte and you can literally see aline from warm and windy to calm and cold by the frost on the trees.

Yes, the winds in ANC are very altitude and topography specific. Normally, the Chinook winds here are only apparent above 800' msl, while the official Sand Lake reporting station is down by the airport well below that level. During most Chinook events, the Hillside can be subjected to 80-100mph winds, while 90% of the population down in the bowl is largely unaware that anything is going on. It's only on the occasions when the winds extend down to the surface, or when the winds are blowing from the north out of the Valley that the majority here in ANC experince high winds.