Boats sunk in Juneau harbor due to heavy snow, 5 Jan 2026 (screenshot from Alaska’s News Source on YouTube)

9 January 2026

There is plenty for us to worry about right now but the people of Juneau, Alaska have one big thing to focus on:

SNOW! More than a winter’s worth of snow fell in December alone — 82 inches! — and 49 of those inches fell in just five days! The weight of the snow has sunk boats in the harbor and collapsed roofs. Juneau is running out of places to pile the snow.

RAIN! Today there’s a flood watch and winter weather advisory because it will rain heavily on top of the snow — 1 to 4 inches of rain! — which will cause flooding and (probably) avalanches.

Here’s what it looks like.

Totals from National Weather Service, Juneau on Facebook

video embedded from Accuweather on Instagram

p.s. My title a play on a quote attributed to Dr. Samuel Johnson, 1709-1784

“The prospect of being hanged focuses the mind wonderfully.” is attributed to Dr. Samuel Johnson, though the Apocrypha: The Samuel Johnson Sound Bite Page points out it is not exactly what he said.
This is another popular corruption of a famous line of Johnson’s. What Johnson really said, according to Boswell, was, “Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.” A little clunkier in its original form, even when you drop the first sentence, which is probably why the simpler, corrupted form is frequently seen. — from Apocrypha: The Samuel Johnson Sound Bite Page