Between one and three feet of snow blanketed parts of Anchorage and Eagle River Friday night into Saturday morning, the biggest winter storm to hit the area since January, forecasters said.
A mass of cold, dry air moving up through Cook Inlet that mixed with a moist southeast air mass moving through Turnagain Arm stalled out over the region Friday night, churning out heavy snowfall.
According to the National Weather Service, 27 inches of snow fell in Glen Alps on the Hillside. More than a foot fell in parts of the Anchorage Bowl -- 16 inches in Oceanview and 14 inches in Midtown. Eagle River saw 14.1 inches.
Forecasters acknowledged being caught off guard by the size and intensity of the storm. A winter weather advisory issued late Friday afternoon only predicted between three and six inches of snow.
"It kind of spun right on top of us," said Dan Peterson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Anchorage.
On its Facebook page, the National Weather Service said in a post that the "highly localized nature" of the storm made forecasting its duration and intensity difficult.
The weather service forecast for the next few days includes a chance of snow showers through Tuesday and strong winds in the region Sunday evening through early Monday.
From Friday night's fast-and-furious storm, snowfall totals varied across town, with the most snow falling in the higher elevations toward Turnagain Arm.
Here are the snowfall totals for Anchorage and Eagle River:
ANCHORAGE BOWL:
Oceanview Subdivision16.0 inches
Midtown14.0 inches
Northeast Anchorage.11.1 inches
76th and Arctic11.0 inches
Raspberry and Jewel Lake Rd11.0 inches
JBER9.3 inches
NWS Forecast Office on Sand Lake Rd6.6 inches
ANCHORAGE HILLSIDE:
Glen Alps27.0 inches
Upper Dearmoun24.0 inches
Upper O'Malley21.5 inches
EAGLE RIVER AND MATANUSKA VALLEY:
Eagle River at end of Hiland Rd14.1 inches
Eagle River Valley10.0 inches
Butte6.5 inches
Palmer4.5 inches
Reach Devin Kelly at dkelly@adn.com or 257-4314.
By DEVIN KELLY