Potholes

Potholes are one of the early signs of Spring in Anchorage. Yes, I think we may be finally entering spring-like weather.

The temps get above freezing during the day creating very sloppy conditions on the roadways. At night it still gets below freezing so we have icy roads at night and in the morning on the way to work. Since the ground isn't thawed yet, some areas are not draining well at all so there are large puddles (lakes) at many intersections and along the edges of roads bordered by sidewalks. I had to swerve into the inside lane to keep from drenching some pedestrians on my way home.

With the repeat freeze and thaw, the roads have gone to pot. Potholes that is. Everyone on the road is dodging left and right to miss the largest holes. There is an area near the entrance of my favorite grocery store that regrows a huge pothole encircled by smaller ones every couple of days. I can tell it's been patched and then two days later there's a huge hole again.

On another note, Mt. Redoubt has erupted a few times this morning. At work several employees were hoping the ash would head our way, thinking they'd get out of work. I heard it went south and north of us, missing Anchorage all together. It's been fairly active, flights to and from Seattle have been cancelled or delayed and we are all on "red" alert; which means turning off and covering computers when we leave work, having clean air filters on hand for our vehicles and planning to stay indoors if the ash actually falls here. There is no danger of lava - we are too far away. Our only concern is the ash fall out. It can cause respitory problems for those with breathing difficulties.