First official snow in Anchorage area makes morning commute chaotic for some

A chaotic morning commute Tuesday followed the first snow of the season as drivers crashed or ended up in the ditch due to icy roads.

Traffic was backed up on the Glenn Highway from the Matanuska Valley, and near 68th Avenue and Lake Otis Parkway in Anchorage, said Kenny Frye, a manager at Vulcan Towing.

Snow began falling Monday afternoon, with an inch of accumulation measured near the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport and reports of up to 3 1/2 inches on the Hillside, said National Weather Service meteorologist Kaitlyn O’Brien. Much of the snow melted, and O’Brien said remaining snow would continue to melt Tuesday.

Roads became icy Monday night and into Tuesday as temperatures fell into the high 20s.

“It looked just like wet roads, but it was slick,” Frye said. “It was a lot of black ice everywhere.”

Anchorage police responded to 14 crashes, including four with injuries, from midnight to just before 9 a.m. Tuesday, spokeswoman Renee Oistad said. Police and Alaska State Troopers also responded to drivers “in distress” whose vehicles skidded into ditches due to icy roads.

The first snow of the season often causes an increase in crashes, Frye of Vulcan Towing said. Monday’s snowfall wasn’t as bad as others in recent memory, he said, but the winter is just getting started.

“It gets bad this time of year for everybody,” he said. “Keep it slowed down and if you see our lights on the side of the road, please move over. We’re out there working on the slick roads and if everybody participates then we don’t have to have our head on a swivel so much.”

Temperatures Tuesday night are expected to drop below freezing again, and O’Brien of the weather service said roads could be icy again Wednesday morning.