Temperatures in Anchorage are expected to rise early in the week, bringing some rain, before the week closes with subzero temperatures and icy roads, meteorologists say.
A mix of snow and rain was expected Monday, said National Weather Service meteorologist Michael Kutz. Warmer air is expected to push into Southcentral Alaska and bring moisture from the North Pacific.
The temperature in Anchorage reached 40 degrees on Monday morning.
Meteorologist Ben Bartos said light snow was reported overnight Sunday and into Monday before the precipitation shifted to rain.
“We’ll gain a little bit of snow, but then the rain is going to chew it up pretty good for Tuesday,” Kutz said on Sunday.
Anchorage is expected to reach temperatures in the high 30s on Tuesday, although Bartos said snow is expected late Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning.
Kutz said the cold is expected to creep in again after New Year’s Day. He said the high temperature in Anchorage on Thursday is expected to be 22 degrees and Friday only 10 degrees.
The warm weather early in the week will melt some of the snow left from a Christmas Eve storm, Kutz said. As the cold returns, Kutz warned, roads and sidewalks will be icy.
“Now that the ground is cold, the rain could make it kind of nasty out there,” he said.
[Stronger winds in store for Northwest Alaska in coming decades, scientists say]