Alaskan Mike on the Weather Up There

Here's another transmission from Alaskan Mike in Barrow, Alaska, a bit north of the Arctic Circle. In our last installment, I noted that the temperature in Barrow that day was slightly warmer than it was in Minnesota. That isn't normal. Here's what Alaskan Mike said about the weather up there:

November 30

It is a beautiful warm day today here at the North Pole, seven degrees above zero -- unheard of for this time of year. The ocean still refuses to freeze completely and it should have been frozen by the second week in October. I just saw a large black raven flying gracefully against the twilight back drop -- well lit under the largest almost full moon that I've ever seem. Clearly an omen, as ravens NEVER travel this far north at this time of year. The locals are deeply concerned.

There are more scientists here than you can shake a stick at. Barrow is considered the "canary in the coalmine" as far as global warming is concerned. There are scientists from every part of the world taking readings of this and readings of that -- they don't smile much. I think that the news is bad.

There is a single FM station here in Barrow, and I remember hearing one of the scientists being interviewed. He said that the summer ice pack that has been floating about in the Arctic Ocean for thousands and thousands of years -- will be completely gone in less than twenty years. The permanent oceanic ice pack is where the polar bears live in the summer, along with a myriad of other wild life. Things are changing fast here at the top of the world. For sure, it is the end of their world in their life time -- the Natives that is. I wonder what it means for the rest of us.