Anchorage’s first major snowfall set a daily snowfall record as roughly 8 inches blanketed the city starting Thursday afternoon into early Friday morning.
National Weather Service meteorologist Joe Hildebranski said the snow began falling at around 3 p.m. Thursday and petered out around 3 a.m. Friday. He said Thursday’s snowfall set a daily snowfall record for Nov. 6.
“From yesterday up ‘til midnight, we had 6.8 inches of snow, which was a record,” Hildebranski said.
The previous record was 6.1 inches, set in 2011.
Hildebrandski said it’s too early to get snowfall estimates from around the Anchorage area, but a forecaster measured 6 inches on Joint Base Elemendorf-Richardson, and he expects the Hillside neighborhood got more than 8 inches.
On Thursday afternoon, the snowfall coincided with two car accidents that closed parts of the Glenn Highway near Eklutna for several hours. One accident involved two vehicles while another involved one, Anchorage police spokeswoman Teresa Hagensieker said Thursday.
In total, Hagensieker said there were 38 vehicle accidents on Thursday, with 13 of them resulting in injuries. There were another 41 vehicles in distress. As of 7:40 a.m. Friday, Hagensieker said there were four vehicle accidents and eight vehicles in distress.
Hildebranski said the snowfall should be calmer through the weekend, with light snow showers expected tonight.
“Which shouldn’t be anything like we saw yesterday,” Hildebranski said. “Maybe up to another inch of snow possibly.”
He said Saturday and Sunday’s forecast should be dry and relatively snowless.
Anchorage schools are open Friday, district officials wrote. However, Girdwood bus service is down, and officials say that other school bus routes may be delayed as drivers “take it slow and safe this morning.”
