A winter storm earlier this week dropped a record-breaking amount of snow on the state’s largest city.
Brandon Lawson is a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Anchorage. He said 19.4 inches of snow accumulated from Sunday evening through Tuesday.
“This is the highest two-day snow total for Anchorage in January on record, and it is the fifth highest on record ever for Anchorage for any two-day snow event,” Lawson said.
Forecasters were originally expecting storm totals of up to a foot for Anchorage. Schools in Anchorage and the Matanuska-Susitna Borough remained open, although some sports games and practices in Anchorage were canceled Tuesday.
The snow was fluffy — reducing visibility on roadways as cars kicked up powder. Anchorage city crews have been working to clear roads and they're asking residents to not park on the street to expedite plowing. Call 907-343-7569 for problem areas.
The Chugach National Forest Avalanche Center issued an avalanche warning through 6 a.m. Thursday for the Western Chugach Mountains from South Fork of Eagle River to Indian Creek. Large human-triggered avalanches are likely after the recent heavy snowfall, according to the warning.
It’s a starkly different picture than the same time last year — when a warm weather pattern dominated Anchorage, bringing lots of rain and subsequent icy roads.
A cold weather advisory is in effect from 5 p.m. Wednesday through 4 p.m. Thursday for Anchorage, the lower Mat-Su Borough and parts of the Kenai Peninsula. Temperatures are forecast to dip as low as minus 35, and forecasters warned extended time outdoors could cause hypothermia. Lawson said colder temperatures had moved into the area by mid-Wednesday morning.
“That's going to continue through tonight,” he said. “Then all of a sudden, we turn our attention right back to this next system coming in Friday through the weekend.”
That system is expected to bring warmer temperatures — highs in the teens — along with more snow this weekend.
