|
Posted by: David in Kenai on 2006-09-21, 08:16:12
April - very few cruises then (maybe a few re-positioning trips), but also very few tourists in town. Still some snow, a lot of mud. Days in Anchorage are about 15 hours long. My favorite time to drive up the Alaskan Highway because there is no snow or ice and not yet any road construction or motorhomes so you make good time (and yet you can still see lots of great Northern Lights/ Aurora). May - Days are 17 hours long (more in Fairbanks, less in Juneau), mosquitos are starting to come out, but aren't bad yet. Just a few sport fisherman around (early King run), a nice time to be here. Often pretty stable weather. June + July - Ridiculously long days - 19-21 hours plus twilight. Getting quite busy so hotels, museums, rafting, flightseeing, trails, campgrounds, etc are more crowded. Bugs are at their worst. We get a fair bit of summer rain. Sockeye salmon arrive and that is important to some (they're tasty). August - still full blown tourist season, but starting to dry out, weatherwise. More forest fires usually and the smoke can cut down the views in Interior Alaska. Days back to 16 hours or so. September, air is getting crisp, birch turn yellow and the fireweed and knik-knik turn red. Can be very pretty. Need a jacket for the cooler temps, but it knocks down the bugs. End of the Silver salmon run. 13 hours of daylight. Kids are back in school, fewer cruises to choose from, but far fewer toursits in town. Weather gets stable again, more clear days than in Jun-Jul-Aug. No snow, except maybe in the mountains - that comes in Oct or Nov. We've increasingly been insisting people come up to visist us in May or September. Mostly because we're so busy in the summer, but also because those are months before and after the bulk of the tourists come. And, if you don't mind temps 55-65F, then the bugs are much less than in mid-summer. |
