I’ve spent most of the past week in Texas at CPAC, and as usual, it was a pretty good time. More on that later; I’m now happily back at home in the Great Land, and I find the Susitna Valley right where I left it – and also, there have been a couple of neat events.
First, the breakup season is nearly upon us. What’s the breakup season? That’s when all the ice, usually in considerable amounts, breaks up and runs down the rivers. It’s a major sign of the Alaska spring.
River breakup season is upon Alaskans as frigid air and snowpack begin to transition from warmer temperatures and thawing waterways.
This is a dangerous time of year, especially along riverbanks as flooding concerns rise with a shift from seasons.
This isn’t a good time to be ice-fishing. Breakup applies to lakes, too, and it’s not at all uncommon up here to read about someone putting a snow machine through the ice, or just punching through into frigid water while walking across a lake or river.
Breakup can result in flooding, too.
What is break up season?
The breakup season refers to solid ice sheets that freeze and collect during the winter months before breaking down and melting in the spring which leads to flooding along riverbanks and coastal communities.
The first river breakup outlook has been released by the National Weather Service, warning to an increased flooding threat for areas along the Yukon and Tanana Rivers.
This year may be a rougher than normal year in many parts of the Great Land, thanks to deep snow and a near-record cold winter.
2026 season outlook
For regions such as the Interior, unseasonably cold temperatures and deep snowpack have accelerated the ice jamming risk this year, especially as temperatures turn to above freezing highs in the upcoming weeks.
Current snowpack in Nenana and Circle are up 150% to 175% from the 1991 to 2020 median, subjecting rivers to ice jamming.
As heavy snowpack and rapidly warming temperatures coincide in a short timeframe, dynamic breakups become more likely, leading to higher chances of ice jam flooding.
“We want to extend the melt out over 6 weeks, instead of compressing it over one week,” said National Weather Service River Forecaster, Kyle Van Peursem.
We’ll see what happens; predictions are hard to make, especially about the future, and that applies to weather and ice melt as well. We’ll just have to see what happens.
Alaska Man score: Withholding judgment to see how the melt goes.
Read More: Alaska Man Monday – Airplanes, Place Names, and Summer Flowers
Next, some great Alaska kids took part in the Alaska State Spelling Bee!
Students competed in the Alaska State Spelling Bee on Friday for a chance to head to D.C. for the Scripps national competition.
The 75 students in the competition ranged from second grade to eighth grade, competing in rounds starting at 10 a.m. and ending as late as 5 p.m.
In the end, Aidan Cole, an eighth-grader from Kenai Middle School, emerged as the winner.
Cole correctly spelled “thrasonical” to win the bee.
Congratulations to Aidan Cole! In our increasingly online world, written communications are important, as without tone, inflection and facial cues that are inherent in face-to-face conversations, we only have writing skills to go by. And, honestly, most of our nation’s schools are doing a lousy job of teaching this. It’s great to see some kids interested in proper spelling; let’s hope they are learning sentence structure and grammar as well.
Alaska Man score: 5 moose nuggets. Great job, Aidan!
Read More: Alaska Man Monday – Explosives, a Great Alaska Kid and a Great Fish
Now, let’s see some CPAC coverage.
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