Just a couple days short of the start of June, winter in Southcentral Alaska finally died on Thursday -- at least at sea level.
Thursday was the day the city of Whittier on the northwest corner of Prince William Sound declared there was too little snow left for snowmachining.
"There's still snow around,'' Police Chief Robert Haskell said, just not enough to protect vegetation from the tracks of snowmachines in some key locations.
Up high, though, plenty of snow remains.
The Kenai Mountains just above Whittier are full of it, as is Turnagain Pass along the Seward Highway.
The pass, which sits in the Chugach National Forest, traditionally closes to snowmobiles on May 1, but there was so much snow this year the U.S. Forest Service left it open through the Memorial Day holiday. Skiing remains a possibility there, as elsewhere.
For those who prefer the lingering winter, Alyeska Resort in Girdwood is planning to open for weekend skiing today and Sunday. The resort reports that more than 17 feet of snow remain at the top of the mountain.
Chris Maynard, owner of Alaska Snow Safaris in Anchorage, said he's never seen anything quite like this past winter.
Coming back to the city on Tuesday after a holiday weekend in Seward, he noted, "there were some guys getting in that one last ride at Turnagain."
Snowmachiners are still riding in the mountains above Valdez, too, though that notably snowy community has now gone largely snow free, he added.
Weekend hikers to Crow Pass above Girdwood reported that the peak of the roof on an A-frame, public-use cabin the Forest Service maintains just below the top of that pass was only partially showing. The nearby outhouse remains snowed under.
How long it will take for so much snow to finally fade from the high country is unknown, but the National Weather Service has predicted colder-than-normal temperatures for the coastal part of the region for June.
Water temperatures along the coast remain frigid. Halibut charters fishing the Gulf of Alaska report water of 40-42 degrees. That's cold enough to rob the heat of weaker low-pressure air systems moving in from the south.
About all Anchorage residents can do is hope for high pressure to build over the Interior and push warm air south. The Weather Service is predicting a warmer than normal June for that region of the state.
Haskell was optimistic.
"It's about 60 here now," he said Thursday. "I think you could say" the seasons have changed.
"It was a good, long winter,'' Maynard said, "but I'm happy summer is here.''
Finally.
Of course, if you are a member of that small clique of snow worshippers married to the idea of "endless winter,'' the 49th state still boasts plenty of glaciers where snowmobiling, skiing and dog sledding continue all summer long.
And in 20 days we'll celebrate summer solstice. Then the days start getting shorter and the plunge toward winter begins anew.
Outdoors editor Craig Medred can be reached at cmedred@adn.com or 257-4588.
This weekend
• Skiing and Snowboarding: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and Sunday on Chair 6 with uploading on the Tram
