Living in Alaska

Real Alaskans learn to LAYER -- as we can't predict temps here or follow any weather forecasts (like we can anywhere else in the U.S. with some degree of certainty). So please think of LAYERS - we have had snow in September and in May, it is not that unusual. We also have huge mountains with ice fields surrounding Cook Inlet and the Anchorage Bowl, so even when it feels hot, there are places that are super cool. Sometimes those same places are hotter in the winter because they're closer to the winter sun, so you're sweating up a storm up in Turnagain Pass in January, while your nose quickly freezes and you can barely breathe, the air is so cold and dry, when downtown.

Visiting Alaska? I would suggest that along with your short-sleeved comfy shirts, you put in some sweaters or long-sleeved cooler weather shirts to wear over them, and then the outer wear. Autumn is coming too fast and is very fleeting here, and very beautiful. The colors actually blow you away (and I'm from Maine with the busloads of tourists viewing foliage every Fall)... tundra, birch, cottonwood, spruce, it is just amazing the colors that come out and almost impossible to capture in photographs. It normally gets pretty chilly at night in late August, although it can get very hot around noon and you need to take some of it off.

As an implant to Alaska, I've learned to think in layers. As a mom, I'm teaching my son the same. Never go by what you wake up with in the morning when in Alaska (for weather/temps). Keep the rain gear in the truck. Keep the mittens-gloves and scarf/hat in the gear box in easy reach, and always wear two or three layers.

My husband grew up here and also taught me that Alaskans in Anchorage rarely change lanes when driving - we usually stay in the same lane we'll be turning from. We don't wear gloves (mittens prevent frostbite better). We always watch and expect moose or bear, even on the 50 mph streets inside the city. We expect to pay more (but Anchorage has NO sales tax, so prices you see everywhere are what you get at the cash registers).