Up and down the length of the peninsula, snow began accumulating and drifting in earnest late Feb. 9 and continued falling into Feb. 10. Last Friday and Saturday were sunny, but a second storm moved in Sunday and Monday, with rain falling on ice making driving extremely hazardous on Valentine's Day. Alaska State Troopers issued a traveler advisory Monday recommending drivers stay off the Sterling Highway between Ninilchik and Anchor Point. Rain falling on ice made conditions extremely hazardous, said Trooper Sgt. Jim Hibpshman of the Homer Post, E Detachment.
Wind-whipped high tides pushed debris onto the Homer Spit Road last Thursday, and tore away a portion of the runway at Nanwalek, according to a state highway and airport maintenance official.
Weather forecasts at midday Thursday predicted a total accumulation on the western peninsula from Homer to Cooper Landing of six to 12 inches with temperatures in the 20s. Southwest winds reached 30 to 38 mph around Kachemak Bay by afternoon. Winds were to subside by nightfall.
Saturday, clear and sunny weather dropped temperatures to a high of 19 degrees and a low of 5 degrees in Homer. By Tuesday, temperatures increased to a high of 39 degrees and a low of 33 degrees — wet and sloppy.
Conditions weren't any more favorable at sea, as gale force winds and heavy freezing spray continued through the night in Cook Inlet north of Kamishak Bay and English Bay. Even stronger winds hit Kachemak Bay. Winds were up to 30 mph in Homer, with gusts up to 39 mph. Friday, winds slacked down to a maximum of 12 mph, but by Sunday increased to a maximum of 20 mph with gusts up to 31 mph.
Carl High, superintendent of the peninsula district for the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, said the entire peninsula system had been hit hard, with some areas reporting in excess of a foot of snow. High said conditions were somewhat worse in the eastern side of the peninsula, but road crews also were seeing a lot of snow north of Sterling and in the Brown's Lake area.
High mentioned conditions on the Homer Spit, saying at around 3:30 p.m. last Thursday — about an hour before high tide — that the department was going to attempt to keep the roadway open.
"We're going to let people know of the conditions so they can be aware," he said.
However, there already was plenty to deal with earlier in the day.
"It's pretty ugly," Homer Public Works Director Carey Meyer said Thursday morning. "It's not snowing much anymore (about 11 a.m.), but it's blowing and drifting. We get the roads plowed and it drifts right back in."
Meyer said the big story of the day was anticipating when high winds would be coupled with a high tide of 21.8 feet. The early morning high tide, which had not been accompanied by strong winds, nevertheless was enough to deposit small boulders and driftwood on the Homer Spit Road.
"The tide this afternoon will be a foot higher," Meyer said last Thursday.
However, by mid-afternoon, vehicles were driving the road, often getting doused with the spray from breakers hitting the "rip rap," granite rocks that protect the highway from the sea.
The Ocean Drive Seawall survived the storm, Meyer said, with some plastic exposed at the bottom. East Road Services did maintenance to the wall this week.
High of DOT said the tide and waves had wiped out about a third of the airport runway at Nanwalek.
Hal Spence is a reporter for the Peninsula Clarion.
Just when it was starting to look like the Kenai Peninsula might ease through winter with little more than some ice and cold, nature went, well, natural, delivering a major dump of snow accompanied by high winds.
