According to the ice breakup log, the latest the ice has ever gone out was May 20th, 1964 at 11:41 AM Alaska Standard Time. As of this writing there is about 28 hours to go to break that record.
Geophysicist Martin Jeffries at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks said in 2009,
The Nenana Ice Classic is a pretty good proxy for climate change in the 20th century.
If that’s true, it looks like we are headed to colder times. Here is the current live view which updates every 30 seconds.
Refresh to see the latest.
I’ve been watching over the past 12 hours and the tripod has drifted downstream slightly, rope slack changes gave the impression that the tripod had changed position, but that’s an artifact of wind, and there appear to be leads in the ice opening nearby, though it is hard to tell if they go through the ice or if it is simply water on the surface.
Here is what the image looked like on 5-15-13 (thanks to Willis):
They need a weather station there to go with the live image. Many people want to know what the temperature and wind conditions are like.
[UPDATE] I trust Anthony won’t mind my adding a blink comparator between the 16th at two in the afternoon, and the 19th at ten in the morning. Click on the image to see the comparison.
From my inspection, I’d say the tripod hasn’t moved … it looks like it’s tipped a bit, but I think that’s just the different sun angles, because the black-painted sections don’t seem to be moving.
It’s the most exciting slow-motion event I know of …
w.
For anyone who wants to see where the Tower and Tripod are in the summer – check out this location in Google Earth: 64°33’52.37″N 149° 5’36.84″W Very different looking in the summer.
Warmists all over the planet will be spewing. Ha Ha Ha.
This is one of my favorite ice out videos. From NH in 2011..https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezcgPAptbIk&feature=youtube_gdata_player
I’ve been looking so long I’m starting to see the stay puft marshmellow man from Ghostbusters.
Someone needs to tell the DrudgeReport about this record-breaking event!
For those who want to see how the Tower is locked into the ice, see the photos page at the link below. Looks like they make rectangular trenches, into which about 9 legs are placed. There may also be horizontal wooden beams in the ice, at the bottom of the tower legs. It appears they also have some crosspieces cut for additional wooden beams that are placed at the bottom of the trenches, to stabilize the Tower. Then they fill the trenches with water and let them freeze.
Scroll down on the photo page for several pictures of the installation into the ice…
http://www.nenanaakiceclassic.com/photos.htm
The location of the sun, in degrees, minutes and seconds (or decimal if you prefer, or radians ) from the equator would seem to me to resolve the question on dates and leap years. This data can be easily calculated. I’d do it myself, but I have a peculiar situation in which I am writing code to do these calculations but don’t have it finished and I can’t peek at code already written by others. (proprietary reasons ).
Great. No worries then.
Oh my God! I think I’ve jinxed it.
Following this rivetting event with excitement from Oz! Have unsuccessfully tried to pick the actual spot on the Nenana River where the tripod is standing from Google Earth but hard to tell. Can anyone help with the actual cordinates (apologies if I’ve missed them earlier).
It looks like the webcam is down. If I was a conspiracy theorist…
The webcam is back up again. There is a couple and their dog watching the show at the moment.
@ur momisugly Woz,
For the exact coordinates for the tower on the ice, I know where it was about ten years ago when I was there, and it looks to be the same spot, though it’s possible they moved it a bit.
64°33’58.03″N
149° 5’36.63″W
It’s between the highway and railroad bridges on the north side of town. The cam pics are looking north.
Hrmm, on google earth I just spotted the clock tower’s shadow, so I think my coordinates are accurate, at least as of 2010.
@ur momisugly Arizona CJ
Much appreciated. Yes – the clock tower’s shadow is obvious once you see it! (Ain’t it always the way?)
🙂
2 people and a dog. The pod hasn’t moved an inch !!
It is 9:40 Sunday night at Nenana. Tripod still standing and three locals (I guess) standing around watching. After watching this for three days I reckon I would find it difficult living in 24 hour daylight.
09:45 and we have 4 cars and 5 people, one with a video camera. That channel on the far side of the tripod is getting wider quickly. Can’t be too long now.
big dark “flowing” area seems to be a little larger than what I was watching last night. (East coast now 1:57 AM DST).
Now – What is the Alaska Daylight Savings Time vs ??? record time?
We have found a leap year bias, is there a DST bias we need to account for as well?
Spring forward -> We added one hour (artificially) to our apparent clock time from years past.
On the other hand – What was the “correction” in the late 1890’s for this specific town in Alaska when “time zones” were established standard across the US – which did NOT have Alaska as a “state” yet! – from the “local solar time” that was used previously?
No daylight time bias — the time is just Standard
Alaska’s an hour behind the West Coast
The tripod might stay, if we all here command it
(At least ’till tomorrow, then give up the ghost)
===|==============/ Keith DeHavelle
For those who can’t stand to wait any more and need some sort of closure, this is what it is going to look like when it goes (from 2011)
Well, based on the previous video,
From right to left the river doth flow,
That truck best move before ice’s future becomes past,
Or it will snag the rope when the tripod goes fast.
For some excitement I’m gonna go watch the moth fly around my kitchen light…
☺
9:45 pm AKST. Sunset is in an hour or so. Sunrise is at 5 am. Breakups between 9 pm and 6 am are fairly rare, so chances of a record are about 50-50. Most likely breakup: between 6 am and 12 noon tomorrow. I’m going to bed.
Classic. Someone just mooned the camera, about 12:09 AM pacific time. 🙂
It’s so cold, musta been a blue moon!
Here in Iceland at least one person is watching this 🙂
Local time now is 07:25 on monday morning, but 23:25 on the web camera above.
Regards
Agust