Accumulated snow depths of a foot or more are rare and, because of moderating temperatures, snow cover seldom persists beyond a week or two. Despite relatively heavy precipitation, flood damage is of no consequence because of the large drainage areas and steep topography which provide rapid escape of surface runoff into the sea and into the muskeg. Thunderstorms average one or two a year and generally are the result of frontal activity. The considerable amount of cloudiness prevalent over this area results in a corresponding low percentage of possible sunshine. Unfortunately, visions of the Northern Lights are a rarity in the winter.
North lies the North Pole, Greenland, Iceland, Sweden, Siberia and the rest of Alaska.
Rainfall averages 110 per year. Rain occurs vertically, horizontally, diagonally, and from the ground up. In 1887 Annette Islands became the permanent home of over 800 Tsimshian Indians. A Missionary, William Duncan lead them from their Metlakatla British Columbia home to an abandoned summer camp of the Tlingits. Before they left for Alaska, Duncan had visited Washington D.C., where he was told that he and his followers would be granted political, economic, educational and religious freedom in Alaska.