Reuters: Sea ice on trip to Nome was "as thick as 24 inches"; in the AP version, it was "hundreds of miles of Bering Sea ice several feet thick "

Russian tanker reaches ice-bound Alaskan port | Top News | Reuters

Even with the U.S. Coast Guard's only functioning icebreaker, the Healy, slicing a path for the Renda through Bering Sea ice as thick as 24 inches, slow progress had raised doubts about whether it would reach the port.

The Associated Press: Tricky transfer awaits tanker inching to Alaska

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A Russian tanker has muscled its way through hundreds of miles of Bering Sea ice several feet thick to deliver fuel to Nome. Now comes the tricky part: getting more than a million gallons of diesel and gasoline to shore through a mile-long hose without a spill...
Michels said the weather has been extremely cold this winter. The temperature in Nome dipped to 34 degrees Fahrenheit below zero Friday, breaking the record set for that day in 1973.

In temperatures like this, the fuel really gets gobbled up fast, she said.

U.S. News - 25-foot sea ice ridge confronts Alaska fuel convoy

[1/12/12] What most people take for granted -- how fuel gets to our homes and cars -- is an epic story for Nome, Alaska, where the latest obstacle facing a fuel convoy trying to resupply the town is a 25-foot ice ridge blocking the harbor entrance.

Created by offshore ice pushing against the shore ice, the ridge rings the mouth of the frozen harbor at Nome, and its tip sticks about five feet above the rest of the surface, University of Alaska-Fairbanks researcher Andy Mahoney, who discovered the ridge, told msnbc.com Thursday.