Anchorage Daily News

The first frost of the season is expected to hit parts of Anchorage and the Mat-Su tomorrow morning just in time for the first day of autumn. In a National Weather Service advisory released today, the service says dry conditions moving into place overnight are likely to linger, meaning areas that escape Jack Frost tomorrow could see it hit Tuesday morning.

With the frost will likely come a break in the seemingly endless weeks of clouds and rain that have recently plagued Southcentral, the service said.

That's because an area of low pressure was to begin moving into Prince William Sound and into the Gulf of Alaska, taking with it the clouds and dreary weather that it pinned in place.

A gradual reduction in cloud cover should result, though the service cautioned that there was some uncertainty as to how much clearing would take place right away. There will be "at least a few breaks in the clouds," the service said.

The areas that clear up are the ones that will likely be subjected to freezing temperatures. This is about the normal time for a first frost - the date at which the low temperature first dips below 32 degrees, according to the service.

The average date for that to happen is Sept. 18. The earliest it happened, according to the record books, was in 1946, when freezing temperatures hit Aug. 14. The latest was in 1969, then first frost struck Oct. 16.

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