Much of Southcentral Alaska woke up to freezing rain Thursday, leading to slick roads, slippery sidewalks and closed schools in Anchorage and parts of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough.
The Anchorage School District initially announced a two-hour delay Thursday morning, and then shifted to a remote learning day “due to deteriorating road conditions,” a statement said. Only Girdwood K-8 had in-person learning Thursday, but no bus service. After-school activities and community rentals were also canceled.
The Mat-Su Borough School District also announced a remote learning day for several of its schools: Su-Valley Jr./Sr. High School and Trapper Creek, Talkeetna and Willow elementary schools.
The slick roads led to crashes throughout the area.
Alaska State Troopers said an Anchorage woman died and two drivers were injured in an early-morning collision on Knik-Goose Bay Road. According to an online report, troopers responded shortly before 5:30 a.m. to Mile 15.5 of the road near Gleason Lane, where a Chevrolet pickup truck lost control and collided head-on with a Toyota SUV.
Delynn Brouillet, 64, a passenger in the Chevrolet, was declared dead at the scene. Both drivers were taken to local hospitals with injuries.
Troopers said weather, with freezing rain falling at the time, was "a major factor in this collision." They also said neither of the Chevrolet's occupants were wearing seat belts.
In Anchorage, police spokesperson Shelly Wozniak said that between midnight and about 2 p.m. Thursday dispatchers had received reports of 19 vehicles in distress as well as 10 accidents, two of them with injuries. Wozniak said roads in East and South Anchorage, as well as side streets, were particularly slick.
A winter weather advisory from the National Weather Service is in effect until noon Friday for Anchorage, the Matanuska Valley and areas west of Wasilla. It calls for freezing rain and a light glaze of ice accumulation on roadways.
"Despite the break in precipitation this afternoon (Thursday), another round of freezing rain and drizzle is expected to move through the Anchorage and Matanuska Valley areas after midnight tonight into Friday morning," it says. "Precipitation coverage and rainfall amounts are expected to be lighter than before. Any additional precipitation is likely freeze on untreated surfaces and any residual water that is on the ground will refreeze once the sun sets and surface temperatures dip below freezing."
Parts of the Kenai Peninsula were also under a special weather statement for freezing rain on Thursday, including the Sterling Highway between Soldotna and Cooper Landing and the Seward Highway between Tern Lake and Turnagain Pass.
Meteorologist Michael Kutz said Thursday morning that the rain was falling as snow, but melting as it passed through bands of warm air moving across Southcentral Alaska.
"Here on the ground, because we've been sub-freezing for a while, everything now is turning to ice," Kutz said. "It's (a) widespread kind of condition across Southcentral — we will be seeing a little bit worse before it gets better."
Overall, Anchorage can expect about a tenth of an inch of freezing rain Thursday.
"That's more than enough for people to go ditch-diving," Kutz said.
By Thursday afternoon, meteorologist Dan Nelson cautioned that roads would not get better soon. Temperatures were expected to fall to near or below freezing overnight, which could keep area roads slick with or without more rain.
"Any standing water on those roadways looks to freeze over," Nelson said.
