14 May 2004

Joined: 23 Mar 2004 Posts: 87

14 May 2004 - Waiting In Nome

I am in Nome waiting for Susan and Craig to arrive. They are scheduled
to be on the 9 AM flight. Nome is an interesting town. It is the
official end of the Iditarod. There is a huge wooden sign welcoming the
mushers as they finish the race. It is along the side of the road now,
but I am told it is placed in the street during the race. There are two
roads out of Nome. Each goes to a village and stops. So the only way
to get to Nome from Anchorage is by flying, dog sledding or watercraft.

Nome is a lot warmer than I imagined. The outside temperature is about
40 degrees and as you can see from the picture above, there is no snow
on the ground. There is, however, ice on Norton Sound. I can see it
from my hotel room. Andy, Nome's logistics person for the Shelf Basin
Interaction (SBI) group, told me that the wind can quickly move the ice.
It will depend on the ice whether the group is flown out to the ship or
brought in by small boats. Too much ice means we fly.

To see photographs taken by Steve Roberts of UCAR/JOSS, click here.