Despite how solid it looked, water was still moving underneath the ice
Overcast and windy with snow, mostly through the middle part of the day.
When I got up this morning, I was a little surprised to see no new snow falling.
The forecast was still showing a winter storm warning for Sitka, with heaviest snow around midday.
Uncertain how the roads would be, I decided to head out sooner rather than later.
While out, I noticed the high tide and remembered that today and tomorrow are the highest tides forecast in the current new moon series.
After several days of tides well below predicted, dropping pressures over the past 24+ hours changed that. By today’s midday high, the observed tide level was slightly above predicted.
I ended up going all the way out to Starrigavan and Nelson Logging road.
Snow had started to fall. With the cold ground it didn’t melt, but there was no significant accumulation (at least while I was out). The heaviest snow fall I observed was near Halibut Point Rec.
I made a couple of stops at bird feeding areas. I was able to confirm two Lincoln’s Sparrows at the kelp patch pullout. I had previously thought there might have been two, but never saw both at the same time.
While I was there, I tossed out some food. I think a raven noticed I had been doing something. It flew up into a tree to keep an eye. I drove a circle and watched. It flew down and checked things out. It didn’t seem to find anything of interest. I think it didn’t quite see me throwing out the food.
Other locations didn’t have many birds about when I stopped.
The crane was on Moller ball field again when I went by the first time. On a later stop, it had moved down to the yard just beyond the north end of the track.
Snow continued to fall into the afternoon, but it remained light in my neighborhood. Snow accumulations approached an inch at my house.
My iNaturalist Observations for Today
