The kids and I braved the wind to walk down to the park and see what might be around. I thought the gusts of wind pushing spray across the bay was particularly interesting.

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Red-breasted Sapsucker along SJ Hatchery outflow.

Red-breasted Sapsucker along SJ Hatchery outflow.

Pacific Loon along Sage Beach.

Pacific Loon along Sage Beach.

Pacific Loon along Sage Beach. This bird seemed to have an injury or abnormal growth just behind its head.

Pacific Loon along Sage Beach. This bird seemed to have an injury or abnormal growth just behind its head.

A lone male Common Goldeneye was riding t he waves.

One of the buoys marking the tideflats at Totem Park was taking its share of waves.

Wind-blown spray blurs the view across Crescent Bay.

From time to time an especially strong gust pushed spray across the water.

Indian River from bridge in Totem Park.

Ducks taking refuge from the wind close to shore.

A male Gadwall was hanging in with the Mallards at Totem Park.

Red-breasted Sapsucker on alder tree near SJ Hatchery.

Red-breasted Sapsucker on alder tree near SJ Hatchery.

Sitka broke records this month for measured November snowfall. However the record comes with a bit of an asterisk, since there are significant gaps in the records for snow amounts. Unlike precipitation, the depth of snow is not measured by the main weather station, apparently. In any case, it was a lot of snow for any month around here, but it did make for some nice views.

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Bright sunlit snow covers the south side of Castle Hill, with Mt. Verstovia in the distance beneath dark gray clouds.

View looking South from O'Connell Bridge lightering facility

View looking South from O'Connell Bridge lightering facility

View looking South from O'Connell Bridge lightering facility

St. Michael's Cathedral is illuminated by the sun during a break between snow squalls.

St. Michael's Cathedral is illuminated by the sun during a break between snow squalls.

Mountains Southeast of Crescent Bay

Peak 4900 (Unnamed) is partially obscured by lingering clouds.

Today ended up being a bit more full than I planned, as it took longer to get stuff ready for my dad’s arrival in town this evening. I was able to walk over to the bridge after class and catch the sunset, which was nice. Temperatures were cooler today, but the forecast is for even colder tonight and tomorrow. Winds were minor on the ground, though I noticed the wind turbine going at a moderate pace, so there was apparently at least some breeze aloft (strangely, I don’t recall noticing it much when I was upon the bridge). I took additional note of the patterns of snow on the trees covering the mountains and hills around town. I plan to write a post about my observations later this week.

On my walk I saw a Red-breasted Merganser in the Channel. Their were lots of them in the bays south of town during the Christmas Bird Count, but for some reason they’ve been mostly absent along the road system this winter. It was also interesting that I noticed the smell of seaweed and whatever else goes into the mix to create the fairly distinct low tide smell. (Interesting because I hadn’t noticed it yesterday when I was trying to pay more attention.) Several gulls seemed to be taking advantage of the low water levels to try and find food along the shoreline. I didn’t have enough time to watch and see if they were finding any success. I imagine at other times of year, they wouldn’t even bother, but from now until the herring run is probably the most difficult time of the year for them food-wise.

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Low angle light illuminates the snow covered Sisters and Mt. Verstovia.

Vitskari Rocks can be seen along the horizon.

View to the Southeast from O'Connell Bridge.

A layer of stratus clouds was well-positioned to catch the light of the setting sun, resulting in a very colorful sunset.

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Heavy clouds and cooler temperatures brought snow down the mountains over the past day or two.

I took a little time while on my way home last night to shoot some pictures of the moon rising over the mountains and Crescent Bay.

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Winds gusting to near 60mph buffeted Sitka causing a fair amount of wave action even along protected shorelines.

The the last couple of weeks have seen quite a bit of stormy weather around Sitka. Saturday had the highest winds of the fall storm season so far with sustained winds over 30mph and gusts up to near 60mph.

Winds were out of the West-Southwest, pushing the waves through Middle Channel to crash against the south end of the runway. While on a brief walk Saturday morning, I could see the waves splashing up above the level of the runway, and I heard later that at least one flight was canceled due to boulders which had been thrown up on the runway.

Winds gusting to near 60mph buffeted Sitka causing a fair amount of wave action even along protected shorelines.

The kids and I took a walk down to the beach around sunset.

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Rowan was happy with the the clam shell she found on t he beach.

Rowan found this shell on the beach and insisted that I photograph it.

Last February after a cool calm night, I took a morning walk to Totem Park and was interested to find that most of Crescent Bay was covered in ice. Salt water is supposed to freeze at 26F, and overnight lows probably got a little bit below that, but it was hardly frigid. Temperatures on other occasions have certainly been cooler without the extensive ice on the water that was present on this day.

The ice seemed to extend out beyond the islands called The Twins.

When I arrived at the end of the park, I was able to see the ice extended all the way out to Eastern Channel, though I could not really tell how far out into the channel it went. On the other hand, I discovered that Indian River estuary had no ice in it at all. Given the fact that salt water requires colder temperatures to freeze, this seemed a little strange.

After some thought I decided the key to this mystery must be the calm clear night. I think the there was probably very little movement of surface water in the bay overnight. Clear skies allowed the surface to cool quickly, and since there was little or no mixing (perhaps partially facilitated by a freshwater lens on the surface?), the surface was able to freeze. In principle this would seem little different than making ice in the desert by digging a hole and placing an insulated pan of water in it that is exposed to the night sky. Presumably the reason the river/estuary did not freeze is the water was flowing and the resultant mixing prevented the surface from getting cold enough to form a layer of ice.

Despite the frozen bay, Indian River Estuary was free of ice.

I did not get a chance to get out much today.

Weather: It was overcast and chilly for most of of the day. I don’t think the temperatures got much above freezing, if at all. A very little bit of snow fell. Late this afternoon there was a bit of a break in the clouds over Sitka Sound that allowed for a little bit of color as the sun dropped low in the sky.

Other Notes: It’s interesting how a gradual more or less continuous process can seem to have sudden jumps. Today I experienced one of those jumps with daylight. The days are getting longer by about 5 minutes a day now. It is light out before I need to get up in the morning, but that’s not what struck me today. What I really noticed today was how light it was as I walked home from the office around 5pm. Perhaps last week I was coming home a little later as it was getting dark or the clouds were a bit heavier, so the gradual increase in light during the late afternoon was not as noticeable to me.