Southcentral Alaska digs out from weekend snow dump

The foot-deep Anchorage snowfall that brought down an inflatable sports dome over the weekend — Anchorage's heaviest single snowfall in several years — also left at least 30 inches of snow in Seward and Moose Pass.

The National Weather Service's Anchorage office reported that Anchorage's winter of 2016-17 already has the heaviest total snowfall of its last two winters.

Rebecca Duell, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service's Anchorage office, said Monday that Saturday's snowfall of 10.3 inches, recorded at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, was only the 18th heaviest day for snowfall since record-keeping there began in 1953.

Duell said that snowfall across Anchorage for the weekend was relatively uniform at about 13 inches, with few areas getting significantly more or less than that number. Although this winter's overall snowfall so far of 44.6 inches is just under 2 inches below the city's norm by Monday of 46.4 inches, Duell said that snowfall for the month has still been exceptionally heavy.

"If we look at snowfall for just January, we're at 23.8 inches for the month," Duell said. "And if you look at records since they began in 1918, we're at the second-highest we've ever had for January."

Temperatures in the Anchorage area, already expected to exceed 20 degrees Monday for the first time in more than a week, will rise as a low-pressure system currently in the Bering Sea moves east across the Gulf of Alaska. Duell said the system is expected to reach Southcentral on Thursday.

"When it does so, it's going to bring an influx of moist, warm air into our area," Duell said. "Basically it's a return to normal seasonal temperatures for us."

As of 1 p.m. Monday, Anchorage police were reporting 42 vehicles in distress as well as 16 non-injury collisions and one collision with minor injuries. Those numbers were down from the weekend, when Saturday and Sunday saw 127 and 84 vehicles in distress as well as 49 and 28 non-injury collisions respectively; each of the two days also had five minor-injury collisions.

Police had "no particular areas of concern" for traffic flow Monday afternoon, spokeswoman Renee Oistad said.

In Seward, city manager Jim Hunt said public-works crews worked a 24-hour shift over the weekend, following a local emergency declaration.

"They are getting a necessary break today and will be back to work 4 a.m. Monday morning," Hunt said. "They will start downtown and work their way outwards. The emergency declaration is still in effect."

Seward police dispatchers said drivers should watch for plowing crews, which were focusing on clearing berms and center lanes Monday.

Moose Pass School secretary Melanie Schilling said the school was open as usual on Monday, with no major local issues related to the snowfall over the weekend. Although her home received about a yard of snow, snowplows had cleared both the Seward and Sterling highways in the vicinity.

"(The snowfall) pretty much stopped late Saturday afternoon and we got it cleared up, but it looks like it's starting to snow again," Schilling said. "It's kinda like going down a tunnel, but the roads are all clear."

In Anchorage, Facebook user Tia Marie posted a photo of her snow-covered car outside her apartment building, along with pointed questions about when the powder dump might get cleared.

"It's been a week since the last snow? And this new snow makes about 3 feet?" Marie wrote. "How long do landlords have until they have to plow? Last year my landlord told me it would melt but we didn't get this much …"

For author and blogger Erin Kirkland, even a temporary halt in the snowfall Sunday was worth noting.

There are more flakes in Anchorage's near future according to its Monday forecast, which was calling for less than an inch of snow Monday afternoon and 40 percent chances of further precipitation overnight into Tuesday.

Check back for updates.