Yukon River ice breakup at Dawson City YT - DONE!

A yes, traditions.

I remember as a kid growing up in Sudbury.
The city would park an old clunker of a car in the middle of the lake and have a contest, guessing when it would fall through in the Spring.
How things have changed. Imagine trying that today.

Fizz wrote:
A yes, traditions.

I remember as a kid growing up in Sudbury.
The city would park an old clunker of a car in the middle of the lake and have a contest, guessing when it would fall through in the Spring.
How things have changed. Imagine trying that today.

Yeah they did that in North Hatley, Qc on Lake Massawippi (where I grew up) until the environmentalists got involved! :E Now the governments are supporting sinking ships to make artificial reefs, go figure! :B

The Tanana River, at the site of the now 99 year tradition of the Nenana Ice Classic officially went out Friday April 24 for 2015, so it is officially summer in interior Alaska now.

I buy 10 tickets every year and cover one daily guess (to cover ten consecutive days) on the exact minute the ice officially goes out on the Tanana River (time guess is random) when the tripod has to move 100 feet downstream from it's yearly exact planted spot on the river placed in on the first week of March.

I covered April 27 thru May 6 this year as the weather after the April 5 deadline predicted 2 coolspells in the 8 to 14 day forecast at the time, however only one coolspell entered the area for two short days dumping four inches of wet snow and everyday after that became warmer than the normal high temp.

The 3 year and 5 year cycle told me mid and late April breakup, while the 2 year and 4 year cycle told me first week of May, so it goes to show you weather in the far north can be unpredictable.

April 29 and 30 are the most common dates the ice goes out in Nenana, roughly 20 percent of the time, so in general April is considered an earlier breakup and May a later breakup.

This is been the second consecutive year the ice went out earlier than normal, as in 2013 it was the latest calendar day with 1964 when the ice went out on May 20, however they still recognize 1964 as the latest breakup year with the extra leap year day added in the equation.

I have yet to witness seeing the Yukon River ice going out in person, as it is one of the last major rivers to ice out and it is a real sight to see - and it was ironic two years ago that the Yukon River at Dawson City actually went out days earlier than the Tanana River at Nenana, and that does not happen too often.

AKsilvereagle, I heard that in the old days instead of a tripod on the Tanana ice they would bet on when the bridge across it would be taken out. They would rebuild it every year. Is that baloney?

I know that the "na" ending that's on river names means "water." Is there a Banana River in Alaska? Just asking.

Nenana had an ice bridge for crossing the Tanana River in the winter and a ferry for summer crossing before the current Veterans
Bridge was built. The railroad bridge went in before the highway bridge. Don't remember seeing any photos or hearing of a wooden bridge in the 13 years we lived in Nenana.

It often confuses tourists that Nenana and Tanana are pronounced so differently. Nenana rhymes with banana and that Tanana is Tan A Naw. Both the River and the villages. I have lived in both villages, Tanana for two years and Nenana for the 13. Nenana was established as a barge port, the Native village, Togheteli(sp), was originally across the river on the much higher ground. Tanana, at the mouth where it joins the Yukon River, has been a Native village since people first inhabited the area.

Dawson City
Yukon river: Ice is still in.
George Black Ferry: closed until the ice goes out.

We are waiting to head North to Dawson.

Why isn't there a photo post-May 3rd up on the Yukon River Breakup site yet?

Who knows why there isn't an updated photo. Possibly because it is no longer interesting for locals once breakup is done and over.