Drivers rush to get studded tires installed after first significant snow of season in Anchorage

Wednesday was one of the busiest days of the year for Anchorage tire shops as residents scrambled to get their vehicles ready for the winter after more than four inches of snow blanketed portions of town overnight.

Drivers on Wednesday navigated their way through slippery, wet roads largely covered in slush. The slick conditions that morning drove customers who were hoping for a last-minute tire swap to line up outside auto shops hours before they opened.

Anchorage saw a small amount of snow several weeks ago, but it melted quickly in lower elevations. Snow that fell Tuesday and Wednesday would likely stick around through the season, said meteorologist Michael Kutz.

The Kenai Peninsula had the highest snow totals, with 2 feet of snow in Nikiski, 10 inches in Soldotna and Kenai, and 9.5 inches in Sterling, according to the weather service. Schools in the central Kenai Peninsula, from Kasilof to Sterling and Nikiski, were closed Wednesday due to road conditions.

Snow totals in Anchorage varied by Wednesday morning, ranging from 2 inches reported in East and Northeast Anchorage to 4.2 inches that Kutz said was measured at the weather service, near Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.

At Point S Tire & Auto Service in Midtown, employee Ryan Morgan spent much of the day turning away customers. The shop operates on a first come, first served basis, he said. They were fully booked for the day about 20 minutes after opening on Wednesday, he said.

“I’m accepting more work tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. when I open my doors,” he told a customer over the phone Wednesday morning. “My recommendation is to come early, dress warm, because I have my first half-dozen people in the parking lot before seven.”

The customers are a mix — Morgan said some came to Anchorage from out of town to get their tires changed over, others had just procrastinated and a number of people had intentionally waited until the it was absolutely necessary to change out their tires.

“Winter tires are made with a softer rubber compound,” he said. “So running them on dry pavement in warmer temperatures is going to wear out the tire faster. So a lot of people wait ‘til the last minute to get things installed.”

Every year, the first significant snowfall makes for chaos, said Gabe Frommer, who is a salesman at KD Discount Tire near downtown Anchorage. The business stopped accepting walk-in appointments 45 minutes after it opened on Wednesday, he said. The earliest scheduled appointment is just over two weeks out.

The phone rang constantly on Wednesday — less than an hour into the day 42 voicemails had already accumulated, Frommer said.

“I think the last two months we’ve been up to our head in work, but it’s coming to a head where we can only handle as much as we can handle in a day,” he said.

Alaska State Troopers on the Kenai Peninsula responded to 16 vehicles in the ditch, 10 collisions and numerous other calls for assistance from drivers on Tuesday and Wednesday, said Lt. Mike Zweifel, commander for the Alaska State Troopers’ A detachment.

Through Wednesday morning, Anchorage police said, there were 18 reported vehicles “in distress” — often meaning they slid into ditches — as well as 13 crashes with no injuries and five with injuries. The Seward Highway was closed twice Tuesday night as police responded to a collision and a separate rollover, both near Girdwood.

Zweifel suggested drivers keep winter gear in their vehicles, plan extra time to reach their destination and use winter tires.

Highs through the rest of the week are expected to be in the 20s. There’s a chance for more snow Saturday, Kutz said.