Anchorage Daily News

Steve McKeever was ready to take the studded tires off his bicycle this weekend and pedal to work today.

"Postpone those plans," he said happily.

Happily, because McKeever is a skier as well as a biker, and Saturday's surprise snowstorm provided skiers with a final fling with winter.

More than a foot of snow fell in parts of Anchorage, allowing groomers to set tracks on Hillside trails overnight.

McKeever was one of the first to hit the Hillside trails Sunday morning; only one other car was in the parking lot when he arrived at 8:30.

"There wasn't a soul on the trails," he said. "It was perfect. I hiked to the top of Hilltop and skied down."

According to the National Weather Service, Anchorage has never seen a snowier April 5. Officially, 5.5 inches fell, breaking the old record of 2.6. The measurement was recorded at Sand Lake near the airport, which wasn't nearly as snowy as the Hillside and parts of South Anchorage.

A second round of snow came early Sunday, leaving Glen Alps and most of the Hillside with a foot of snow for the weekend. By 1 p.m. Sunday, the Sand Lake level had gone from 5.5 inches to 8.7.

Girdwood and the Valley received about half the amount of snow that South Anchorage did, according to the Weather Service.

As usual, the fresh snow proved a challenge for drivers.

Anchorage police recorded 67 vehicles in distress, 57 non-injury accidents and 14 injury accidents Saturday from 1 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.

Many of the non-injury accidents were in town, a dispatcher said, but the Glenn Highway was the scene of most of the injury accidents as well as many of the ditch divers.

The daylong storm was less exciting for gardeners, many of whom are preparing for Saturday's Spring Garden Show. But master gardener Verna Pratt said the late snow shouldn't create too many problems.

"All's it is doing is giving (plants) a spring rain, is what it amounts to," she said. "It's disappearing fast. It's only if it got colder and stayed colder -- in the 20s -- that it would matter. This probably isn't going to change much at all."

Find Beth Bragg online at adn.com/contact/bbragg or call 257-4309.

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