Thoughts on my first Alaskan winter

Today is the first day of spring, and it is beautiful and sunny here with temperatures warm in the upper 30's and even the lows warm at at low 20's.  I know people wondered what I'd think of an Alaskan winter, so I thought I'd gather my thoughts.

Snow:  I grew up in northeastern PA where snow was plentiful during the winter.  I lived in a hilly area just north of Scranton and it was pretty common that my house would get 4-6 inches of snow while Scranton would have just an inch.  I clearly remember getting 8 inches of snow overnight and not even having a delay.  As such, I love snow and always have.  After living in Philly for 10 years, Florida for 2 years, England for 3 years, and Alabama for 2 years, I was excited to move somewhere with lots of snow.  Sadly, I was disappointed this winter.  Average snowfall is about 70 inches a year, and I would guess we got quite a bit less than that this year.  The way snow is dealt with is very different than anything I have seen anywhere else.  Snow is always plowed immediately, and at least twice we had 2 or 3 snowfalls in a row before I saw my first plow.  Because of this, for a good 1-2 month stretch, the roads were completely white as the plows couldn't clear the snow packed down by traffic.  Parking lots didn't seem to be plowed much and most of them have a 5-6 inch layer of ice that is finally starting to melt.

Cold:  After living in primarily warm climates for the last 7 years, I was wondering how I'd deal with the cold in Alaska.  In reality, Alaska average temperatures are pretty temperate.  According to this website, average January temperature is 16 degrees.  Anyone who has lived in Anchorage/Eagle River for several years will tell you that every winter is different.  Some winters have lots of snow, other winters are really cold, and still other winters are really mild.  This winter was colder than most.  We had stretches of days in a row where the high never even reached 0.  We had lows in the -20 degrees Fahrenheit range.  I noticed when it was bitterly cold this year, it never snowed; our snow came during our warm ups.  I found that for me, I am fine as long the temperature is below 10 degrees and I do okay outside for short stretches when the temperature is above -5 degrees.  When the temperature goes below 5 degrees, I have a hard time forming coherent thoughts and thinking about anything other than getting someplace warm.  The bottom line is that I can handle the cold in Anchorage/Eagle River, but am not sure how I'd manage living somewhere like Fairbanks (where it is significantly colder).

Short daylight hours:  On the winter solstice, Anchorage has 5 hours and 28 minutes of sunlight.  The sun rises after 10am, as you can see in this picture of the moon taken on winter solstice at 10am.

This photo was taken November 24th almost a full month before winter solstice and shows the street lights were still on 10:15am:

So, the short daylight hours encompass about a 2 plus month time period.  The short daylight hours didn't start to bother me until January, when my body was suddenly zapped of all motivation and I never felt like leaving the house.  Before that, it wasn't so bad.  Much of Eagle River is in a basin, so parts never see the sun on their house for a full 2 months, but our house is up in the hills alot and we got some sun in our two  story great room, except for a few weeks surrounding the winter solstice.  In addition, this winter the sunny days were the coldest, and the cloudy days were our warm ups.  We had lots of cold days, so it seemed we saw alot of sunshine.  Thinking back to the grey English winters, honestly the short Alaskan winter days weren't so bad.  I remember sometime we'd go 3 to 4 months in England without seeing the sun. 

Driving:  This technically could go in the snow category, but I thought it might have its own space.  My car is a Honda Odyssey, which does NOT have all-wheel drive.  We did have studded tires put on it.  I was worried about driving, especially as I realized that lots of the roads would be covered with snow for weeks at a time. I noticed that my car only had trouble stopping at hilly intersections or turning from a stop (at a light or stop sign).  I quickly learned to turn into the direction I was sliding, and honestly, it wasn't bad.  Dave has a Subaru Outback and that AWD is amazing in the snow; if you are afraid to drive in a snowy climate, I recommend a Subaru.

Clothing: For those wondering what is recommended for visiting a cold climate, we really like Sorel boots.  The boys boots have removable wool liners so it can dry separately.  Good wool socks are a must; I like Smartwool, but for myself buy cheaper wool socks at Costco and they work great too (I think the name is Karen Bell?).  The boys and I have down jackets and snow pants.  I found Land's End has some great stuff, especially at great prices for little ones.