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Some Alaskans See a Change in the Weather

A few months ago, I wrote a column about climate change that involved James Hansen, a researcher at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York. Hansen and his colleagues developed a "common-sense climate index" to locate areas on the globe where climate change is noticeable enough to be obvious to people who aren't scientists. Hansen's index suggests that long-time residents of Alaska and Siberia already may be noticing a significant change in weather over the past few decades. I asked Alaska sourdoughs for some of their thoughts. Here's what I got:

Herman Hoke has lived in southcentral Alaska for more than 40 years. He wrote a four-page letter filled with detailed observations: "Is it really warmer now? Definitely yes. My truck tires haven't squeaked on the snow, nor have they galloped down the road for several miles on frozen flat spots because of low temperatures."

Jude Henzler, executive director of the Bering Sea Fishermen's Association, came to Fairbanks in 1954 and has been in Alaska ever since. He now lives in Anchorage. Jude worked as a surveyor for a few decades, standing outside and absorbing many seasons of Alaska weather. He said that though some winters seemed unusually cold, and some strangely warm, he does not think there has been overall warming since the 1950s.

Susan Winingham moved to Alaska in 1957. She doesn't think the weather has changed much overall since then, with the exception of Anchorage. She lived there from 1957 to 1983 and says she remembers winters much colder than those experienced now in Alaska's largest city. She thinks Anchorage has grown so big, with so many buildings, cars, and other heat sources, that perhaps a "heat island" effect makes it warmer in Anchorage now than when she lived there.

Lyn Sinnema of Anchorage wrote she has "very strong feelings" about the weather. She moved to Anchorage from Washington in 1980. She says her first 16 summers were perfect: "a little rain for the garden, a little sun for the soul." But recent summers have felt to her "terribly muggy." She finds the winters haven't changed much.

Mickey Lesley of Juneau wrote that her town's winters are getting warmer: "We didn't shovel snow once the past two winters and have shoveled very infrequently since 1992. All manner of bug and beetle profit from this. I'm not so sure we humans do . . . Until the early 70s it snowed through the first week of May. We don't get snow in the spring at all now."

Margo Waring has seen a shift in Juneau winters too. She moved there from Anchorage in 1972, and remembers not knowing what Halloween costumes kids were wearing because they wore snow suits over them. She said that late October is now part of the rainy season in Juneau, and kids' costumes are hidden by rain gear. "My theory is that the seasons have advanced about a month, so that April now has the weather that May used to have."

Edith Polk lives in Lakeland, Florida. Edith lived in Alaska for 15 years but went back to Lakeland four years ago to care for her mother. She wrote that central Florida seems to be colder than when she was young. When she was a child, her mother grew mango trees, avocado trees, and her neighbors had a banana tree. When she was six or seven, a cold snap killed the trees, which never recovered. "I keep thinking of those mango and avocado trees and how different the vegetation of our Lakeland neighborhood is now," she wrote. "Those trees are a hint of another, more complete, story." A quick check with Hansen's climate index shows that the Southeast U.S. is one of the few places in the world that has experienced a cooling trend the past several decades. The climate index, which includes detailed weather records from many places in Alaska, can be found on the Internet at www.giss.nasa.gov/data/update/csci/.

I close this week with an apology to Tom Bundtzen, owner of Pacific Rim Geological Consulting and all-around good guy. I spelled his name wrong in last week's column.