Alaskans are such liars

More than one person told me that they hated April due to the breakup, during which mud and slush allegedly fill the landscape. They said that, really, there was no spring--just this horrible period between winter and summer. If you google "breakup Fairbanks," you will find this sort of quote:

"Browns and grays dominate the landscape, the snow that stays around is dirty, and mud reigns."

"Wee-Hoo! Breakup! Mud, slush, and bbq!"

"April is a month of waiting, as winter sports come to an end and summer activities are blocked by melt and mud."

"We like our break ups long, slow, and hard in Alaska.  Usually at least 4 weeks, longer if we can drag it out."

"...the resultant sea of mud is called breakup."

Give me a break!
These are all huge exaggerations. I mean, seriously, once Leslie and I had to avoid a puddle in a parking lot. Sure, there are some places where there is slush but, for god's sake people, just walk around it. To say breakup was no big deal is to give it too much credit. It was great fun watching the snow melt day by day, but problems—mud, slush or muck of any kind—were virtually non-existent and exceedingly easy to avoid. Such liars!

What is the breakup actually like? Well, it is a lot like Santa Cruz or Hilo after a big rain storm. I mean, puddles here and there. No big whoop, certainly not worth a name, much less a "season." Call it what is is, guys: spring.

Ok, it is true that this April was warmer than normal with very little re-freezing in the evening, so maybe this was been a particularly easy breakup year. But to say that they don't really have a spring is just wrong. Birds were chirping and butterflies floating about, pussy willows were out, buds were forming on the the trees, the sun was shining. What the hell do you want from spring, people?

I think the deal must be that they are so used to their many months of very clean, easy-to-handle snow that they belly-ache when they have to deal with any dirt at all.

Anyway, I started thinking during breakup that these folks up here might just have a bit of a tendency towards hyperbole. Now I know it for sure, because they totally lie about this thing they call "greenup."

Here are a few quotes on this from the paper early in the week when "greenup" was declared this year:

According to Ted Fathauer with the National Weather Service in Fairbanks, greenup "is so abrupt that it happens in the course of 24 hours."

And Jim Anderson, a biologist at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks said, "greenup usually takes places before your eyes in a single day."

This is such bull. The first sign of "greenup" I saw occured on May 7^th. 
 

Clearly the greenup has come hilltop across the way on May 7th but not yet to our street.

Since then, it was a steady—but certainly not overnight—process.

Four days later, you can see green coming to the trees on our street

Four days after that, the trees on the sunnier side of the street are green except for their tops, the other side has farther to go.

See what I mean? Liars. 

It is just like every place else with deciduous trees, including Santa Cruz. When it warms up, things start opening. Where it is most sunny, the trees in those areas have the first greening. The areas that "suddenly" went green were actually getting greener day-by-day. The newer trees and the lower branches seem to open first and then the tops of the big trees open last. It takes a period of many days. Greenup in 24 hours (or 48 or even 72), my ass!

So, if you travel here, just take things they say about the natural environment with with a grain a salt, particularly if it involves a preposition.