With Anchorage schools remote again due to a 17-inch snowfall and strong winds, another storm is hitting Southcentral Alaska, potentially causing power outages as trees fall on electric lines.
Two individuals died in separate fires in Mat-Su, with one victim found outside his home after escaping the blaze, potentially succumbing to extreme cold.
Chugach Electric acknowledges the high frequency of winter power outages in Cooper Landing and Moose Pass, attributing them to heavy snowfall and considering solutions like local maintenance crews.
Much of the state became one heck of an ice rink over the weekend, with temperatures spiking into the 40s in much of Southcentral Alaska and thawing reported as far north as Fairbanks.
Alaska is one of the only places in the world where peony flowers grow in the summer months. But the unusually cold, wet weather this year is delaying the blooms by weeks.
Kivalina has long dealt with climate change-driven erosion. While the village didn’t feel the effects of heavy flooding, residents are wary of a future with heavy autumn storms.
All schools in Anchorage and the Mat-Su Borough are closed Wednesday due to slick roads across the region, as snowfall continues. “This is the heaviest snowfall the Anchorage area has seen in over 20 years,” said state Department of Transportation spokesman Justin Shelby. “Our crews are keeping up as best they can.”
The fire also comes as the state of Alaska enters its second highest level of fire preparedness, based on the high number of wildfires burning statewide and the possibility for more.
Snow blanketed parts of Alaska’s largest city Tuesday morning, as Anchorage saw an early, though unofficial, first snowfall of the season. It's technically unofficial because none was reported at the National Weather Service’s official measuring spot on the city’s west side.
Ketchikan became the first city in Alaska to hit 80 degrees this year on Saturday, as three other cities in Southeast Alaska also set temperature records.
Mat-Su schools will be closed Tuesday due to a blizzard causing power outages and hazardous driving conditions.
This is the second reported roof collapse in Anchorage in two days.
A winter storm in Anchorage and Mat-Su, Alaska has caused closures of state offices, schools, and bus services, with reports of stranded vehicles and accidents, and up to a foot of snow expected in some areas.
The upper mountain at Eaglecrest Ski Area in Juneau was closed on Friday following a large avalanche Thursday morning. No one was hurt.
A historically powerful storm slammed into Western Alaska Friday night and into Saturday, bringing major flooding and high winds to a huge swath of coastal communities. By Saturday evening, the state said it had received no reports of injuries or deaths related to the storm. But damage had torn across hundreds of miles of Alaska’s coastline impacting communities all along the way. Alaskans described water flooding homes and roads. Wind tore off roofs. Houses floated off their foundations. Boats sank.
For the first time in more than a century with no recorded snow -- not even a trace -- this late in October, as of Tuesday the 16th. On top of that, warm weather across the state is setting marks for the latest freeze date on record.
Snow dumped on Southcentral Alaska this weekend, with more than 8 inches falling in the Anchorage area and about 5 inches in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. A Climatologist says this weekend has led to a record amount of snowpack this late in the season.
A major winter storm is continuing to bring heavy snow, blizzard conditions and significant ice from California to the Northeast on Thursday.
Safeway on Mill Bay Road is the only large grocery store on the island. And store management expected the barge to bypass Kodiak after its last visit, with a resupply stop scheduled ahead of this past weekend. But snowstorms and gusty weather, including hurricane-force winds, scuttled those plans. “In my entire career, I’ve never seen two successive bypasses,” said Mike Murray, the store director of Kodiak’s Safeway.
Two individuals were found deceased in a vehicle on Steese Highway, with recovery delayed by severe weather; no foul play is suspected.
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