"Last year was the hottest on Earth since record-keeping began in 1880, scientists reported Friday, underscoring warnings about the risks of runaway greenhouse-gas emissions and undermining claims by climate-change contrarians that global warming had somehow stopped. Extreme heat blanketed Alaska and much of the western U.S. last year. Records were set across large areas of every inhabited continent. And the ocean surface was unusually warm virtually everywhere except near Antarctica, the scientists said, providing the energy that fueled damaging Pacific storms. In the annals of climatology, 2014 surpassed 2010 as the warmest year. The 10 warmest years have all occurred since 1997, a reflection of the relentless planetary warming that scientists say is a consequence of human activity and poses profound long-term risks to civilization and nature." (http://www.adn.com/article/20150105/2014-was-warmest-year-record-much- alaska)
And now, with the exception of a couple of days of minus 30F at the beginning, Jan. is shaping up to be another warm month. That's OK by me, since I finally started getting out on the old Ski Doo to put in the dog trail. It's a lot easier to start the beast when it's above zero. One thing that's certainly noticeable this winter, is that with all the rain last summer (The End of Thermidor 7/31/14) as well as the warmer weather, there are a lot more gullies forming in the trail. One new one is already 5 to 6 feet deep where it crosses the trail. I was able to reroute the trail over the shallower end, but it'll still make for an interesting ride with the dog team.
Taken last year, this is the area where the gullies formed this summer. Will try to get a current photo, if I can remember the camera next time out. (Did that!)
Here's a photo of the gully this year. Hard to see with the lack of contrast and low angle sun. The trail now skirts the gully on the right of the photo. Will get a better shot when the sun gets up a little higher later in the month.
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