I just got off the phone a bit ago with our halibut guide in Alaska. He was on THE GOLF COURSE!!!

While it's techinally not open yet, there is absolutley zero snow on the ground so they set some pins and tee boxes and they're playing a little.

Apparently one of the Anchorage Courses has actually been in nearly full operation all winter ... a first he tells me!

May be an extremely low water year this summer in many areas, and fire hazards will be extremely high ... so for those of you headed north this summer, unless things change, plan accordingly!

Not a surprising story!

What the hell is going on this year???

I have had daffodills blooming in my yard for a week.
Leaves already budding out on some maple and other deciduous treesin my yard.

This morning I had Cedar tree Pollen on my car, that usually doesnt happen until at least mid to end of April.

The global warming issue is getting a little scary, and I wonder if the negative effect and rate of warming is worse than we all think it is.

Atleast some very bizarre air currents moving across the earth's landscape that's for sure....
Did you guys here about the unusual freezing of some of the Great Lakes right now?.... And how about those NY. NE snowstorms?

Bob,

Well, the bears probably never wen't into hybernation then..... It will be interesting to see how migratory fish respond/or don't....

What effect do you think this will have on the kenai pennisula as a fishery? I wonder if they will be more stingy with the fishing, shutting down more frequently?

You can thank El Nino for our weird weather. The way it set up this winter causes warmer drier weather in the west and northwest and colder wetter weather in the southeast and east. I just read the other day though that it's dissipating and our weather should return to a more normal pattern.

I think the effects will vary by the fishery ... for the early season fellas looking to fish the small streams, it may be a bonus to have the waters at a lower level than we've seen the past few years ... IF there is enough water to allow passage of the fish.

Further north on the Kasilof, I think the only effect we might see will be lower than normal flows in August, which plays a role by not forcing the silvers into the eddies as much as normal ... but given that the fishery is often "too good", that might not be such a bad thing.

On the Kenai, it's likely going to create low flows for much of the season as it isn;t impacted by as much glacial melt as the Kasilof ... this is gonna mean lots of busted props for the fellas on the river and perhaps a long-lived spell of the infamous "Kenai Toilet Paper" that covers lures in latter June and early July when the river finally starts to rise some.

A wet spring / summer sould change things, but being it's typically not that wet in the summer anyhow ... I would expect much lower than normal flows in several areas.

Although this is abnormal it is still normal I think. My Family has been on the Peninsula for near a hundred years. My uncle is 83 and can remember some years like this and others when there was 4 feet of snow from Thanksgiving to April.

How about we not blame global warming and/or el nino for our strange weather.

What if the weather we're experiencing is really just a part of a larger weather cycle?

Sure things are bloomin earlier, but what's to fret about? I say we just let nature do it's thing.

I agree with you guys on the weird winter. I live in Wisconsin, and until last week the ground was completely brown when we should have a ton of snow. Also our air temps have been way below normal, having a high in the 20's was a blessing for a while. That helped with the Great Lakes having the most ice it has had in many years.

Downtime

At least that makes for good pond hockey.