ALASKA'S NEWSPAPER

| Updated: 7:59 AM

Northbound traffic on the Glenn Highway continued to move slowly and was backed up to the Boniface Parkway overpass at 7 p.m. Dec. 15, 2009.

BILL ROTH / Anchorage Daily News

Northbound traffic on the Glenn Highway continued to move slowly and was backed up to the Boniface Parkway overpass at 7 p.m. Dec. 15, 2009.

Snow creates traffic nightmare

SOUTHCENTRAL: The police have been busy with a slew of wrecks.

A storm stalled over Southcentral this week, dumping snow on the region, wreaking havoc on the Tuesday evening commute and prompting the National Weather Service to issue a winter weather advisory for Anchorage and the Mat-Su into today.

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The National Weather Service was predicting snow would continue through Tuesday night and today and dump an additional 7 to 14 inches, with the highest amounts near the mountains, by the time it tapers off Wednesday afternoon.

The Mat-Su was expected to be bombarded with between 8 and 15 inches of snow from the storm, according to the Weather Service. Snow will also fall on the Kenai Peninsula, though it is not expected to be as severe.

The advisory expires at 4 p.m., and police, already experiencing a deluge of wrecks Tuesday night, were expecting problems to continue into the commutes today.

"When there's additional snow we always anticipate additional traffic problems," police spokeswoman Anita Shell said. "Motorists are advised to slow down for icy road conditions and increase the distance between yourself and the vehicle in front of you."

Snow began falling early Monday and has continued because the system has stalled overhead, according to the Weather Service. The heaviest snowfalls have been reported around the coast, but comparatively light snowfalls from the Kenai to the Mat-Su were starting to add up.

In the Anchorage area, the Weather Service reported 6 inches of snow in Eagle River and just over 2 inches at the Weather Service office in Sand Lake as of 5 p.m. Tuesday. In the Mat-Su, Trunk Road at the Palmer-Wasilla Highway checked in at 8 inches.

The deepest snow in the region fell in Valdez, which saw 25 inches, according to the Weather Service.

Between midnight and 5:30 p.m., Anchorage police responded to 52 accidents, including nine with minor injuries. There were also 60 vehicles in distress, 30 percent of which were on the Glenn Highway, according to police.


Find James Halpin online at adn.com/contact/jhalpin or call him at 257-4589.

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