Sunny September

September, 2010 was a very abnormal month in most of Alaska. It started off pretty normally: windy, rainy, grey (as shown in the video below)

Soon a gigantic high pressure system moved in over most of Canada, Alaska and Eastern Russia, resulting in 2 or 3 weeks of unseasonably sunny and mild weather. In southeast, we also had quite a few days in the 70's.

The only downside to all that beautiful weather was a lack of wind.

For about 2 weeks, the day would start with a light northwesterly that petered out by about 11am leaving the rest of the day totally glassy. I was so desperate to kite in that beautiful weather that I went out one morning in about 12mph winds with my biggest kite, but after loosing ground on every tack, I had to abandon the attempt or face the walk of shame back up the beach.

The high pressure was finally pushed out of the way in our area by a storm force low that moved in during the last week of September. The result was a lot of rain and wind. I was able to rescue the month by going out for a blistering session on the 5m kite in the last days of September. The winds were around the 30mph mark and the waves were big, so it was a good time.

Now the leaves have turned yellow, the nights are cold and the snow is descending further down the mountains with every passing storm. Winter is coming and with it lots more fun in the snow. I'll probably get a few more sessions in during October, but the water season is essentially over for another year.