tundra travel7 Dec 2018 08:32
All tundra travel areas remain closed for winter travel.
Happily, the forecast is calling for snow and colder temperatures starting Friday.
Note last Paragraph - Could be WINX
" DNR has completed an assessment of snow conditions and soil temperatures on the North Slope as related to off-road travel on State-owned land. The assessment was complete as of December 6, 2018.
The target for the Eastern and Western Coastal Areas is 6 inches of snow and -5° C (23° F) soil temperature at one foot (30 cm) depth. The target for the Lower and Upper Foothills Areas is 9 inches of snow and -5° C (23° F) soil temperature at one foot (30 cm) depth.
All Tundra Opening Areas are Currently Closed. Soil temperatures are slowly dropping, 16 of the 19 soil temperature monitoring stations have not met the criterion of -5°C soil temperature at 30 cm. Snow depths have been met at most of the monitoring stations throughout the Coastal Areas; the required 6 inches of snow has been met at all 5 stations in the Western Coastal Area and 5 of 6 stations in the Eastern Coastal Area. The required 9 inches of snow has been met at 2 of the 5 Lower Foothills stations. Last week, all 4 stations within the Upper Foothills Area had met the 9-inch snow depth requirement. By December 5, the snow pack had decreased at all of the Upper Foothills stations; only 1 station is now meeting the snow depth requirement.
In general, snow quality for off-road travel is poor. Snow samples were collected from the Eastern Coastal, Lower Foothills, and Upper Foothills opening areas. Snow water equivalent (SWE) ranged from a low of 0.4 inches to a high of 2.3 inches, averaging slightly above 1 inch. Few protective wind slabs have formed and snow depth is low on exposed ridges and tussocks. Despite this, earlier season snow fall has allowed operators to prepack ice road routes and full ice road construction has commenced for two projects. "
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