Hi lavender and all - yes...we are buried in snow but we are surviving :) The harshest weather is northwest...we are much further south. Valdez gets the most snow in Alaska.

We usually get 3-4 'snow teasers' that melt the next day before it finally decides to stay for the winter. On October 30, we had our first teaser...OK, you'll be gone tomorrow. Woke up...we were buried...I was so shocked when I opened the front door. "BAM! Hello Valdez...I'm here to stay!" It's unusually early for us this year - I guess Alaska didn't get the global warming memo??? :)

We have great snow removal crews - in fact, we've never had school closed because of snow - only because of winds. Which can be hurricane force at times.

A common sight:

I remember the first time driving through the town part of Valdez in 1977 - I really couldn't 'see' the town as it was just a maze of snow tunnels. I remember one year's snow was so high, some people could walk right outside their 2nd story windows.

Here's a little trivia:

Average Annual Snowfall (in city): 325.6 inches
Average Snowfall in Thompson Pass: over 600 inches
Record Snowfall (in city): 556.7 inches (1989/90) (That's over 46 feet!)
Record Snowfall in Thompson Pass: over 900 inches (75 feet! A few miles out of town).

I've linked a snow article below - here's another one from 2009.

http://www.adn.com/2009/12/17/1060856/valdez-shrugs-as-snowfall-tops.html

Thanks for asking about us, lavender :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Anchorage's world-famous

Melaska- Glad to see you're okay! The news has been reporting the bad storms up there, since your storms impact our weather, too...especially this time of the year, even though we're in eastern Washington.

We have snow, but not that kind of snow! I'm glad you're prepared, even if it did arrive a little early, this year. I guess no more construction until next spring, right? Have a great weekend and stay warm! :)

No more construction - we planned it that way. Wanted to get a head start in the Spring. We'll probably have to hurry the snow away by getting a front end loader to help it melt faster.

The only thing giving me pause now is holding my breath praying for no power outages. We've already gone through 2. The 2nd one happened about an hour after hubby left for the beginning of his night shift (But, of course!).

We're going to put in a pretty big generator in the new build with easy-to-operate switches (for me) ;)