Anchorage could see the coldest temperatures of winter this week

A burst of Arctic air is bringing “bone-chilling cold” to Southcentral Alaska this week, said National Weather Service meteorologist Pam Szatanek.

Low temperatures early in the week will be in the minus teens in portions of Anchorage, Szatanek said, the chilliest yet in the season. The cold is expected to last through the week.

“There’s a 0% chance that it’ll get above freezing in the next five days,” Szatanek said.

Along the Kenai Peninsula, Szatanek said, temperatures could drop to 10 below zero throughout the week.

The coldest part of the system is anticipated to hit in and north of the Susitna Valley. The weather service issued a wind chill advisory for portions of the Susitna Valley from Sunday until Tuesday afternoon.

Temperatures in and north of Talkeetna, Willow and Cantwell could see lows of 35 or 40 below zero with wind chill, the weather service warned.

The weather service warned Monday that temperatures could be 40 below zero north of Glennallen and in Eureka, McCarthy, Paxson and Slana.

Anyone traveling or planning to recreate outdoors this week should prepare accordingly, Szatanek said. She said it is a good idea for drivers to have a cold weather kit in their cars.

The cold air is dropping into Southcentral Alaska from the northern portion of the state, though Szatanek said the Alaska and Brooks ranges will block much of the cold air from traveling down to the Anchorage area. Temperatures are expected to drop below zero Monday night in most of the city and could dip into the minus teens in East Anchorage.

The burst of cold air in Anchorage will come after a January that was warmer than normal, said meteorologist Joe Wegman. As of Jan. 30, the month was about 5.6 degrees warmer than the average monthly temperature of 17.1 degrees, he said.