Best Bets
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As has now become apparent, the Betster has only been posing as a smart-aleck social adviser and in reality works as a secret instigator of weather. How else to explain why when the B. writes about weather, any weather, shazam! the whole world turns upside down?...
Wed, 02/12/2014 - 5:42pm -
Just when you thought our winter weather couldn’t get any weirder, along comes a new twist. We’re in a fire weather watch. “Winter” is used here in the Florida sense, to describe a time of the year and not the actual weather normally experienced in Alaska because, well, abnormal is the new n...
Thu, 02/06/2014 - 11:40am -
The Betster would like to call back last week’s Best Bets in which yours truly said it appeared parts of Alaska had drifted down into Washington and Oregon. That now seems not to be the case. What actually has happened is that Alaska has swapped places with the Pacific Northwest. Not only did we d...
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 9:50am -
A quick glance at the weather forecast for a Pacific Northwest city calls for a chance of rain, and temperatures in the high 40s and mid 30s. And at another Pacific Northwest city, the forecast is for rain, highs in the high 40s and lows in the mid 40s. Betsteroids, here’s a quiz: Which one is for...
Wed, 01/22/2014 - 3:11pm -
Pretty nifty — guess who’s 50? That would be us, of course, as we celebrate 50 years of reporting on this wild, wacky and wonderful town. Holy Mimeograph! Fifty years doesn’t seem like that long a time, not if you can remember 1964 and stuff like the Beatles first performing on the Ed Sullivan...
Wed, 01/15/2014 - 2:27pm -
Ya know, it just doesn’t seem right that while we’re enjoying balmy weather here in Alaska, subzero cold has descended upon our southern neighbors. Holy Polar Vortex! On Tuesday, it was colder (19 degrees) in Pensacola, Fla., than Homer (34 degrees). The temperatures plunged 50 degrees, from 55 ...
Wed, 01/08/2014 - 4:14pm -
So, Betsteroids, how many New Year’s resolutions have you broken already? Here it is day two of a bright, shiny year and already the B. has broken six, including “thou shalt not be snarky.” Being a hardened, cynical journalist, the Betster really has trouble with that one....
Tue, 12/31/2013 - 3:48pm -
Time sure does fly up here in the dark north. After weeks of anticipation, a little stress and some foul weather now and then, the big day will finally arrive. Holy Axial Tilt! That’s right: On Dec. 23, we finally start gaining some daylight hours. Oh, it will be a minute or two a day, but our lon...
Wed, 12/18/2013 - 5:46pm -
One of Alaskans’ favorite sports these days is making fun of how woefully unprepared cities in the Lower 48 can be when snow falls. We’re not talking respectable amounts of snow, like your average Buffalo, N.Y., blizzard of 5 feet. We’re talking 5 inches in downtown Portland, Ore. Apparently o...
Wed, 12/11/2013 - 3:56pm -
Now’s the time when our social calendars fill up like a bath tub at the bottom of Niagara Falls. Everyone wants to have open houses, office parties and fancy social affairs where men might even have to wear ties. OK, put on a pair of clean blue jeans without holes and maybe even a button-up shirt....
Wed, 12/04/2013 - 2:55pm
