Anchorage has seen almost double its usual snowfall since December

With the latest weekend storm in Anchorage, the city’s snowfall tally since the start of December now totals about 6 feet.

That’s almost double what’s usual in those two-and-a-half months, according to the National Weather Service. And, it’s just the amount recorded at the weather service’s official measuring spot at the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. Some parts of town saw more, including this weekend, said meteorologist Matthew Fazal. The West Anchorage spot got about 7 inches of snow on Sunday, a new record.

“If you’re going toward the Hillside, we’ve been getting reports of 16 to 18 inches of snow,” Fazal said.

He said, just this month, more than 23 inches of snow have fallen in Anchorage.

“The normal is six,” he said. “So that gets us 17.5 inches above normal.”

The weekend storm clogged Anchorage streets, creating hazardous road conditions. The Anchorage School District closed school buildings and canceled after-school activities on Monday, but class was still in session. The district declared a remote learning day. 

This is the first remote learning day under the school district’s new snow day plan. The district announced last month that it was prepared to move students to remote learning for the next snow day, after a trio of winter storms closed schools for an unprecedented six days.

Those storms led to the snowiest December since the 1950s. While the heavy snowfall this winter is notable, Fazal said, it’s too soon to tell if Anchorage will break any winter records.

“For right now, it seems like we’re above normal,” he said. “But it’s hard to track exactly where we’re going to be, even for this month, and ranking it compared to the last 30 years.” 

There are a lot of ways to slice the weather data.

According to the National Weather Service, from Dec. 1 to Sunday, Anchorage recoded 71 inches of snow, compared to the normal 37 inches.

Looking back further, to the fall, the snow total is 85 inches, compared to the normal 55 inches.

Fazal said the snowfall should slow down the rest of the week.

“There doesn’t seem to be high accumulating snow, not like anything we received in the last few days,” Fazal said. “About less than half an inch. Some light snow looks to be coming into town tomorrow, and then should be done by tomorrow night.”

Fazal cautioned that the recent snowfall has come down on ice that’s already formed, and drivers should give themselves more time as they navigate the roads.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify that the snow total of 71 inches is from Dec. 1, 2022 to Sunday.

Alaska Public Media’s Tegan Hanlon contributed to this report.