This last month has been hell here in Anchorage as far as the weather goes.

Two weeks ago, we were in zubzero temperatures,wearing triple layers of clothing to stay warm and buying space heaters for places that could not stay heated very long.

The Nordic Ski Team here in Alaska had official races scheduled two weeks ago and had to cancel the races for three days before doing only a couple qualifying races to get the racers placed for the next set of races.   For the Ski Association to cancel races, that is a huge step.   Skiiers were so cold when they came back they had to run to the showers to warm up.

Experiencing these temperatures in Anchorage was a thing that had not happened in like fifty years!! It was a shock to many!!  Residents were all warned to not expose themselves in the frigid air for too long of a time. The skiiers were in danger of injuring their lungs if they raced, residents were in danger of frostbite or something more dangerous.  This winter has been wacky.  Anchorage was colder than Barrow, AK, the more northern tip of Alaska!!

We were so relived the day the thermometer got above Zero degrees.  But little did we all know what was about to happen!!  The winds came up, the rain began to fall and then.. we could hardly drive much less walk on the streets or sidewalks.

I live at the bottom of a hill and it appeared to me that the mositure all ran downhill ( makes sense huh)!!  and it was like a skating rink without the wetmop effect.

I tried to get going but my car kept sliding backwards and downhill.  There was a car parked on the side of the road and I knew if I kept trying to go up I would eventually hit the car.  Each time I would attempt uphill battle, my car would do a 360 180 or a 90 degree  turn.

I then  chose to park my car and walk to my destination. This was a good choice since I had not been doing much exercising lately anyhow.

I got out of my car and whop!!  I fell into a puddle of water and fell straight to my knees.  My neighbors who had just slid down the hill in their car into a snowbank saw me fall.  They were trying to get out of their car and came to help me up.  That was so sweet of them.  The one found a large cardboard box at which time we sat on the box with our knees and used our hands to transport ourselves across the street the the evermore icy parking lot.   My pants were soaked up to their knees so I went to change out of them.

When I came back, they had pulled the chains out of their trunk ans were trying to get them on but did not know how.  Since I was no help, I told them I was going to walk to my destination.  One of them had an extra pair of Yak Trax and gave them to me to use.

So I walked for about an hour, it was slow, but I made it and only fell on the ice twice.

The forecast is for high winds and freezing rain overnight.  I cannot help but wonder if the city will be shut down for a third day.