Frequently asked Questions
How Cold???
According to the welcome packet I received from my school, it gets pretty chilly in Tununak, reaching lows of negative 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
Here is some information that I was given about the climate...
Tununak gets about 19 inches of rain per year and 62 inches of snow. When it rains, it pours and when it snows it blows! The snow out here can be most easily compared to sand due to its fine texture and the way it creates snow dunes. The first snowstorm usually occurs in October. The worst weather is in February into early April. Break-up is typically in late April. There are 130 sunny days per year in Tununak and precipitation falls 146 days on average. The summers are warm with highs of 70 degrees. Winter lows can get into the -50s but just for a short time. There is usually 3-6 feet of snow on the ground, as well as larger drifts around the village.
Is that near Anchorage? (No!)
Tununak is a small village of about 350 people located on the Bering Sea. It is about 80 miles due west of Bethel and 500 miles due west of Anchorage. We have hills and cliffs (~900-1000ft) around the bay. The area is predominantly tundra. There are no paved roads, but there are dirt roads and some boardwalks. The ground is a clay base, producing “hard” ground, except when it rains and gets a muddy slick. You can pretty much walk anywhere in the village without needing boots, unlike other villages which have much more of a water base. There are no trees here, just scrub willows. The area is starkly picturesque. A river flows behind the village. We are right on the coast so there is ample fishing (halibut, herring, salmon) and hunting (seals, whales, moose, muskox, and various birds). It is a great area for hiking, running, and cross country skiing.
Again this information comes from the welcome packet I received
What about the sun?
Many people have asked me if it will be always dark or always light where I am living. The answer is no! Although I will have some longer periods of sunlight and of darkness, Tununak is South of the Arctic circle. The areas of Alaska within the Arctic Circle are where these more extreme daylight conditions are present.
Some information I recieved from the district...
"Since the region is located at such a high latitude, daylight levels vary from season to season. If you arrive in June or early July, daylight may make it difficult for you to sleep at night unless you take measures to reduce the amount of light entering your bedroom.
As the seasons change, the length of day can decrease or increase between 5-10 minutes per day until the winter or summer solstice. So, over a two-week period of time, you can lose or gain an hour of light depending on the time of the year. On the Kuskokwim Delta, the shortest day has around 5 hours of sunlight in the winter."
How do you get there?
As you would imagine, with only dirt roads, Tununak is not a place you can just drive to. Because it is quite remote, I will first be flying into Anchorage, then to Bethel, and then finally chartering into Tununak. Once I have made the initial trip, I hope to have more information to share about travel to Tununak.