First Day of Spring Not So Obvious in Anchorage

Wildlife is beginning to emerge, however

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By Lauren Maxwell
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Story Created: Mar 20, 2013 at 5:27 PM AKDT

Story Updated: Mar 20, 2013 at 6:46 PM AKDT

ANCHORAGE - The calendar tells us that today is the first day of spring, but a look outside tells us something very different. In Anchorage, springtime means thawing, but not necessarily in a gentle way. Road maintenance crews have been trying to keep up with frozen storm drains around town, running thawing equipment around the clock.

There’s also plenty of activity at the city’s snow dump sites. On the first day of spring, a steady stream of trucks were dropping loads of winter snow into a giant mountain that didn’t appear to be melting anytime soon.

But there are some signs that the season has arrived, including wildlife. Songbirds are back and the days are definitely getting longer. Biologists say the feeders that attract those birds should be coming down to make sure that bears don’t follow.

“If you think about it, there isn’t a lot for bears to eat when they wake up,” said biologist Jessy Coltrane.

Coltrane hasn’t had any reports of bears yet, but said it won’t be long until they are up and about.

“And the ones that wander down into town are going to be looking for your unsecured trash and your birdseed and your dog food and your chickens, so get ready,” said Coltrane.

But perhaps nowhere are the signs of spring more evident in Anchorage than at the Municipal Greenhouse, where thousands of plants have been grown from seed. City gardeners are preparing them for eventual transplant outside toward the end of May -- a day that doesn’t seem so far away.

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TedtheBear said on Thursday, Mar 21 at 5:33 PM

This is Alaska. We go from winter to summer. There is no spring. There is "break-up", more like an intermission between the two seasons.

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