Posted in Alaska Seasonal December 05, 2016 by Courtney

The One Winter Alaskans Will Never, Ever Forget

It’s been a few years since Alaska has seen a winter to remember. Lately, it seems as though we are doing snow dances on a regular basis just to try and pry those soft white flakes out of the sky. Although it’s been warmer than desirable in recent years, this prolific winter that occurred just four years ago back in 2012 will forever be one for the record books.

The year was 2012 when Alaska saw one of its snowiest and most extreme winters in the state's history.

While an extreme temps and record snowfalls don't usually make the headlines, this winter stood out for many reasons.

The town of Bethel saw record lows of -32 which were tied with records set in 1952, 1963 and 1975. A very rare occurrence!

The small northwestern town of Nome saw record breaking temps of -38 degrees.

The city of Valdez endured a record snowfall of 15.2 inches.

Alaska's 'Golden Heart City' of Fairbanks had many record breaking days with cold weather and nearly 22 days straight of non-stop snow.

The small town of Galena with a population under 500 residents had a record breaking low of -54 degrees.

But more so than anywhere else, the small town of Cordova was hit the hardest.

Located on the east side of Prince William Sound, the residents of Cordova saw a winter unlike any other in history during 2012.

This isolated coastal community saw a record snowfall of a whopping 18 total inches of snow.

Leading up to the record 18 inch snowfall, the town had recently undergone a storm that brought 42 inches of snow to the area.

Entire houses were covered in the damp white snow while many structures (including commercial businesses) completely collapsed.

Everywhere you looked - it was a sea of snow. Plus with no roads leading into Cordova, this storm proved to be quite a setback.

In fact, the snow reached heights of 4 to 5 feet tall in many areas due to snowdrifts.

The tractors and snowplows worked around the clock and still couldn't keep the roads cleared.

Local residents literally had to dig themselves out of their own homes.

The snowfall was so extreme that an official state of emergency was ordered and Alaska National Guardsmen were transported in to help the community.

Can you even imagine the aftermath? Talk about devastating! For closer look at how this extreme storm affected residential homes and commercial businesses all around Cordova, check out the great YouTube video below. Your jaw will drop through the floor!

If you thought that was insane, be sure to check out these 26 surprising things you might not expect when moving to Alaska. You’ll also get a kick out of these 20 extremely weird things that only people from Alaska do.

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