Joe's Museum and Barrow Climate

On Thursday night we were finally able to experience the famous Joe's Museum!  Joe "the waterman" has been collecting Inupiaq artifacts for many years and has acquired QUITE the collection!!! A little bit about Joe: before there was a water system in Barrow, Joe spent his days delivering water to all of the households in town.  This was his job for over 25 years (which, I should add, he always did in a T-Shirt! Brrr!!!).  After awhile, he decided to change jobs and help out his mom at her restaurant across the street: Pepe's.  Joe's Museum is actually right in his home!  He excitedly invites people in for free to see his WIDE variety of collections of artwork, animals, and pieces of Inupiaq history which he prides himself in.  Here are some pictures of Joe's Museum:

I tried to take a panorama so you could see all the collections Joe has but it is difficult to see...

Us with Joe!!!

Sunset in Barrow, AK (approximately 11pm)

I also wanted to use this blog entry to answer a question we have from a reader!
The question is: "Tell us more about the weather.... in summer how warm does it get on average? Winter- how cold in Jan.? average low?? In winter what is the average snow fall amount"

This is what I found (temperature and snowfall averages):
January: -8F/-19F (Average High/Low); 2.2in
February: -10/-22; 1.9in
March: -7/-20; 1.7in
April: 6/-8; 2.2in
May: 25/15; 1.7in
June: 38/29; 0.8in
July: 47/34; 0.2in
August: 44/34; 0.9in
September: 35/27; 5.0in
October: 21/11; 7.4in
November: 6/-6; 3.2in
December: -4/-15; 2.2in

It may also interest you to know that Barrow is 320 miles north of the Arctic Circle and Barrow experiences the lowest average temperatures in Alaska. 
Temperatures remain below freezing from early October through late May. The high daily temperature is above freezing on an average of only 109 days per year. There are freezing temperatures on an average of 324 days per year.  Freezing temperatures, and snowfall, can occur during any month of the year.
Barrow is a desert, and averages less than 5 inches (127 mm) "rainfall equivalent" per year, given that one inch of rain possesses approximately equal water content to 12 inches (30 cm) of snow.
(For more information, check out the following site:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrow,_Alaska)

Keep sending us questions (e-mail, text, facebook, blog comments, etc.)
Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!
We spent our time lesson planning! :)
-K