Snow in Anchorage followed by ‘coldest temperatures we’ve seen in awhile’

Isolated snow showers were forecast to continue Monday morning in the Anchorage area as the city enters into some of the lowest temperatures of the season so far.

National Weather Service meteorologist Kaitlyn O’Brien said temperatures would drop to the low 20s in West Anchorage and into the mid-teens on the east side of the city.

The last time Anchorage had low temperatures below 20 at the airport was in early March. O’Brien said temperatures vary greatly throughout the city but “these are definitely some of the coldest temperatures we’ve seen in awhile.”

Low temperatures were also expected in the mid-teens or high single digits on Tuesday, O’Brien said.

The region had an unseasonably warm fall, with record-high temperatures near the end of October that continued into November. Anchorage reached 49 degrees Thursday and broke a record-high temperature of 46 degrees from 2007.

[It’s November and Southcentral Alaska’s unusually warm fall has some plants putting out spring buds]

A band of snow moved east across Anchorage on Sunday afternoon and moved into Mat-Su. O’Brien said snow would amount to 2 inches throughout the area.

Meteorologist Kimberly Hoeppner said most of the snow finished falling in West Anchorage on Sunday evening. By 6 p.m. there was 1.3 inches of snow at the airport, but Hoeppner said 4.8 inches was reported south of the city in Potter Valley.

O’Brien said there is usually an average of 3.6 inches of snow on the ground in Anchorage during the month of November.

More snow is possible on Wednesday and Thursday, although O’Brien said it’s unclear how much will fall and how long it will stick. Predictions call for the heaviest snow to hit the northern Susitna Valley and eastern Kenai Peninsula from Seward to Whittier.