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Pat Shingleton:

7 years 2 months 4 weeks ago Thursday, December 29 2016 Dec 29, 2016 December 29, 2016 4:15 AM December 29, 2016 in Pat Shingleton Column
By: Pat Shingleton:

Alaska holds the distinction of being the largest state in area; almost twice the size of Texas.  It is also home to America’s tallest peak, Mount McKinley at 20,320 feet and its glaciers constitute 29,000 square miles.  In Barrow, the Sun is below the horizon from November 20 through January 22. According to NOAA, six of the top 25 windiest cities in the United States are in Alaska and St. Paul Island ranks as the second-windiest location behind Mt. Washington, N.H. Weather extremes in Alaska include the lowest temperature at -80 degrees at Prospect Creek Camp and the highest at 100 degrees at Fort Yukon. As noted in a previous column, the highest one day snowfall occurred in Thompson Pass with 62 inches on December 29, 1955. wrapping up this morning's column with this note...Senator Roscoe Conkling left his Wall Street office in route to the New York Club during the Great Blizzard of 1888.  “Freaks of the Storm” reports that when he reached Union Square he became stranded in a snowdrift and struggled to free himself from the surrounding snow. After arriving at the club, he had a drink and collapsed, dying the next day.  C. H. McDonald stumbled through the same blinding snowstorm when he collided with a hard object that left a gash on his head.  He picked through the pile of snow and determined that the cause of the accident was the hoof of a dead horse. Thereafter he was recognized as the only man ever to be kicked in the head by a dead horse.

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