This Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta is simply huge.  During the summer, there is more water than land; I believe there is a 60/40 split.  A couple of days ago the water portion increased its percentage as just about everything was flooded with snow-melt – the water was absolutely everywhere.  Houses looked like they would have fit just as easily into rice paddies during the rainy season, as many houses were on their poles above temporary ponds.

With the temperature now consistently above freezing, I would estimate that a couple of days ago the area was 80% standing water, 15% remaining snow and 5% tundra.  Yet just 72 hours later, most of that water had either been sucked up by the tundra or evaporated; taken away by the strong and steady wind.  Most of the tundra is exposed now, in the neighborhood of 80%.  

The 60% of the area that will be water throughout the summer, the ponds, have standing water on top of the remaining ice.  I’m not sure how deep the ponds are generally, but I am fairly certain they were frozen solid 21 days ago.  Now the neighborhood kids play on the ponds even though the top foot vacillates between ice and water daily.  I am not used to that.  Being from the Midwest, I am used to one layer of ice, and if there was water on top of it, the ice was not safe to walk on.

And I’ve learned why snow machines are still in consistent use: they puddle-jump.  They simply use their momentum and skip across the ponds, looking a lot like a jet ski.  I was video-taping one do it the other day fully expecting failure, as the person seemed inexperienced.  It is quite safe right now as the most they could sink would be about a foot, and so it makes sense that this is the perfect time to practice.

There are still plenty of trails packed with snow in which to navigate the snow machines, but crossing roads is necessary regardless, and the roads are only rock or pavement at this point.  Hondas are being put into regular use now as a result; I see about as many of one as I do the other.  (“Hondas” is the term here; not ATV’s or quads or 4-wheelers.)  I have even seen a motorcycle in use, a dirt bike not a street bike obviously.  People are coming out on their bikes, even though the mud on the roads is quite formidable.

It’s not the warmth that seems to be propelling people outside, but the sunlight.  The mode in which people are outside is diversifying though, as the temperature allows.