After being buried, the trapped hiker was able to kick his legs free. A hiker passing by spotted his feet sticking out of the snow.
It’s not often that Southcentral Alaska residents wake to thunder in the middle of the night. But what forecasters are calling an unusual storm moved from the Talkeetna Mountains into the Matanuska Valley and then Anchorage and south to the Kenai Peninsula from Wednesday night into Thursday morning. At least one lightning-caused structure fire was reported.
“It’s been hot, it’s been dry, and it’s been windy. And those winds gusts of 20 miles per hour, it’s kind of funneled through the Andreafsky River drainage,” said Beth Ipsen. Federal entities sent in more firefighters this week, and some residents are thinking about preparing their go-bags.
For a March evening in the Interior Alaska village of Nikolai, Tuesday was warm.
For the first time, the race will run two laps to its halfway point and back. Mushers agree it’s the safest way to run the race, but it could present challenges.
DOT spokesperson Shannon McCarthy said the weather this week -- alternately freezing and thawing -- was likely the culprit.
Snow may have fallen at the lowest elevation ever observed in the state.
A total of 14.7 inches of snow fell between 8 p.m. Thursday and 8 p.m. Friday, barely eclipsing the previous record for the date of 14.6 inches, set in 1970.
After he lost the trail, Jeff King stopped his dog team and draped his sleeping bag over his head to block the battering wind and blowing snow. He was somewhere between the villages of Ambler and Shungnak in the Kobuk 440 Sled Dog Race. Conditions ranged from howling to furious. King lay down with his team. He cuddled a dog named Twister and tried to sleep. That’s when a flaw in the plan rattled his bones. The work of getting there had caused him to sweat, dampness worsened by blowing snow that found its way inside his clothing.
More than a month’s worth of rain has soaked parts of the state in just a few days, setting records.
Avalanche monitors say danger remains high in Turnagain Pass, Girdwood and Portage.
The lodge at above 3,000 feet altitude on the Glenn Highway measured 6 to 8 inches of snow as of Monday morning -- and it was still falling.
While industry has had to adapt to changes, many locals are still struggling to find a new normal amidst the shifting seasons.
Alyeska Ski Resort in Girdwood will not open for skiers and snowboarders Tuesday because of unseasonably warm temperatures and severe weather, according to a post on the resort's Facebook page.
The National Weather Service forecast wind gusts up to 50 mph in some places and whiteout conditions.
Folks here are famous for being able to handle the cold, but anything wet in December has always made us nervous. Especially wet falling from the sky. Lately, weather, our favorite nemesis, has broken the rules. Our confidence in the most-trustworthy feature of the Arctic -- winter -- has been wounded.
An official temperature of minus 65 was recorded 15 miles northeast of Manley Hot Springs, according to the National Weather Service. It is the coldest official temperature in Alaska since
A wind gust of 113 mph was recorded Monday morning along the Seward Highway near Potter Marsh. Above-freezing temperatures are making side streets icy.
A freak warming around the North Pole is sending a blast of Arctic cold over Europe in a sign of wacky weather that may happen more often with man-made global warming, scientists said Monday.
Lightning is unusual in a city that, according to the National Weather Service, sees fewer than two thunderstorms a year. It was the first time the power company had seen a lightning-related power outage in 15 years.
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