Fish on Ice

Valdez Star Photos The deep snow in Valdez adorns the top of the humongous fiberglass salmon mounted atop a pole in front of Hook, Line and Sinker.

January is second snowiest on record
Weather service predicts more this week

By Lee Revis

Editor, Valdez Star

January is proving to be a fertile month for snow in Valdez. An impressive 112.6 inches of snow—over ten feet— has fallen in town in the month of January alone, according to Rob Brooks of the National Weather Service in Valdez. That is on top of the 92.9 inches that fell in December.

That makes this snow season second only to the infamous snowfalls of the 1989/90 season that saw a whopping 281 inches of snow fall by January of 1990.

As of Tuesday morning of this week, the town has received a respectable 219.6 inches of snow for the season. But what makes that number extraordinary by Valdez standards is the fact that 205.5 inches of that snow fell in less than two months time.

The average snowfall for the months of December and January combined is 118.5 inches said Brooks.

“We are 87 inches over average,” he said.

These numbers put Valdez in the midst of its sixth snowiest winter season on record - so far. With several months to go before winter ends, Valdez could still see many more feet of snow.

The whole story is online in The Valdez Star - Valdez, Alaska 's weekly newspaper.