Mat-Su: Plenty of fluff, but no record snowfall

MAT-SU — It was a snowier than usual winter in the Mat-Su Borough, but nothing close to the record breaking totals that buried Anchorage and Cordova.

The Mat-Su Valley may have more snow than is typical, but Dave Stricklan, a hydrometeorological technician and forecaster for the National Weather Service in Anchorage, said locally more than a foot of snow is needed to best the record.

“The Valley’s quite a bit lower than everything else,” he said. “It’s over the average, but nobody’s anywhere within 12 inches of a record out there.”

Valley snowfall totals through March range from 78 to 116 inches at various local measuring stations. That’s compared to Anchorage’s record 134.5 inches, and the nearly 325 inches that fell in Cordova, which is more than 100 inches above that city’s average, Stricklan said.

The longest-running snow measurement location in the Valley is at the Palmer Center for Sustainable Living (formerly called the Mat-Su Experiment Farm), where records date back to 1917, Stricklan said. Through the end of March, that location has measured 78 inches of snow for the season, well over the average of 48 inches, but short of the 97.4-inch snowfall recorded in 1989-90.

The highest recorded total the NWS has is from a measuring spot in the Lazy Mountain area off Clark Wolverine Road, he said. There, 116 inches of show fell this past season. Average is 84 inches and the record is 133.7, also recorded in 1989-90. Another station at the Butte has reported 87 inches of snow, a spot that has averaged 63 inches over the past 10 years.

Even at Stricklan’s home near the Four Corners area, snowfall has been well above average, he said. There, he’s measured 98 inches of snow, and while he has only lived there four years, he also tracks data from a former measuring spot where Colony High School is today.

“Looking back, there was a station for a long period there where Colony High School is, which is only about a quarter mile from my house, right in that area,” Stricklan said.

That station, he said, shows an average of 61 inches of snowfall with a record 112 inches in the winter of 1955-56.

Especially in the Mat-Su, “a few miles can make a big difference,” he said. “It was still a pretty snowy year.”

With all that snow now melting, many are concerned about flooding. While that’s a valid concern, Stricklan said weather patterns so far have been favorable, with warm days and chilly nights that fall below freezing. That allows snow to melt then what’s left to freeze again.

“I don’t see (flooding) being a big issue, especially in the Valley,” he said. “I’ve already lost half my snowpack at my house. The Climate Prediction Center is predicting it will be cooler than normal and drier than normal for the next three months. The next week or so is going to be pretty nice weather — temperatures in the 40s, lows in the upper 20s and lower 30s.”

A warm-up with rain “would be the worst scenario,” he said, “but I don’t see that happening.”

That’s good news for Chuck Braun, operations and maintenance manager for the Mat-Su Borough Department of Public Works. Braun oversees road clearing and maintenance for the borough and has been busy keeping all that snow clear from roadways this winter.

“Now we’ve got potholes and, as I’m sure you know there at the Frontiersman, we have some puddles,” he said. “We’re thawing culverts and trying to stay ahead of the curve. If breakup continues the way it has, we’re going to be OK.”

Braun is also just fine with not setting snowfall records throughout the borough.

“We had enough, that’s for sure,” he said.

While operations are smooth transitioning from winter to spring, Braun said he’s still wary.

“Now, if we get 60 degrees for five days in a row here, everybody get your life jackets and man the boats,” he said. “But if it stays like it has with it being cooler at night, I think we’re going to be good.”

Contact reporter Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.