Mother Nature pulled a fast one on Kodiakans over the weekend, dumping a record 6.5 inches of snow on Saturday and another record 5.3 inches on Sunday.

National Weather Service meteorologist John Selman said the previous record for April 26 was 2 inches, set in 1976, and 0.9 inches on April 27, set in 1955.

The accumulated snowfall was not a monthly record. Selmon said the average snowfall for April is 7.5 inches. In 1985, a record 34.8 inches was recorded.

By early evening on Sunday, most of the snow had melted.

However, overnight freezing made Monday morning commuting hazardous.

Alaska State Troopers reported that one truck rolled over near Boy Scout Lake and, close by, another vehicle slid into a ditch.

Automobiles weren’t the only ones having weather problems.

On Saturday, a barge belonging to Samson Tug and Barge broke its mooring lines and drifted one-half mile across Womens Bay and onto the beach at the Coast Guard Base.

Base commissary general manager Alan Skaw was one of the first to see and report the grounded tug.

“I was walking back (from the coffee room) and was looking at the hillside, kind of looking for deer, and as I was coming across my window in my office, all of a sudden there’s this big old barge come sailing across my picture window,” Skaw said. “It just blew me away.”

Skaw said he called the owners of the barge and reported that he had found their lost barge.

“I let them know that their barge was blocking my view,” Skaw said.

Samson Tug and Barge terminal manager Eric Beattie, who was on a golf vacation in Arizona, said he was surprised to get a phone call telling him their barge had broken loose.

He said that between high tide and high winds, the barge went adrift after parting its mooring lines.

“We believe the lines started parting one-by-one,” Beattie said. “I know they did double up (the lines) on the bow and a couple on the stern, but I’m not sure about the amidships lines. From what I was told, there were from five to seven barge lines on it.”

Beattie said the barge was loaded with items being shipped to Seattle. Those items included empty and loaded refrigerators, an empty fuel truck and cargo containers.

“No hazmat was on there,” Beattie said.

After hiring two local boats to return the barge to Samson’s pier, an underwater inspection showed no visible signs of damage except for some scraped paint.

“The tanks inside were sounded to make sure it wasn’t taking on water,” Beattie said. “There doesn’t appear to be any internal damage to the framework.”

Lt. Cmdr. Patrick Lee, supervisor of the U.S. Coast Guard Base Marine Safety Division, said all-in-all it was a good ending to what could have been a disaster.

Had the barge drifted farther south, it could have run into any of three piers, including a refueling pier.

“There’s a whole bunch of scenarios that could have played out.” Lee said. “It could have impacted that fuel pier where we refuel all of our cutters, which probably would have been the worst event.”

The barge also could have hit the pier Coast Guard cutters tie up to, causing significant damage.

Lee said none of the cutters were in port over the weekend.

“It could have taken out our morale piers, which would have really upset the fishermen,” Lee said.

Lee said the Coast Guard is investigating the matter.

Mirror writer Ralph Gibbs can be reached via e-mail at rgibbs@kodiakdailymirror.com.