School closures and power outages mark first major snow event of the season

Winter is here! And just in case there was any doubt, Mother Nature has gifted the Mat-Su Borough and Anchorage with enough snow to cause closures and power outages. Here is a quick rundown:

Schools-All schools were closed on Thursday, the first full test of the implementation of the Matanuska Susitna Borough School District (MSBSD) weather advisory dashboard. Schools were on remote level for the day.

The MSBSD also announced earlier that all high school activities are canceled, except for the Palmer High School/Wasilla High School Hockey tournaments, the ASAA State Volleyball championships and the Colony and Redington wrestling teams, who already traveled. Community-facility use is also canceled.

Schools were already set to be closed on Friday, November 10 in observance of Veteran’s Day.

Airport Closures:

The Ted Stevens International Airport is closed to all aircraft with wingspan over 210 feet. Travelers are advised to check with their airlines for more information.

Power Outages:

It should be no surprise that with all of the snow, there are power outages. Starting early Thursday morning, Matanuska Electric Association (MEA) was responding to several small outages from Point Mackenzie Road to Schrock Road. Some of the harder-to-reach areas with outages require MEA crews to use snow machines to help restore power.

The MEA Facebook page reports that, as of 4:35 p.m., a crew that is removing several trees in the lines causing the large feeder outage of 2,431 members off of Seldon and Bogard. Crews are wrapping up line patrols for the transmission line outage in the Butte.

MEA also has crews working on a 82 member outage in Eureka, a 95-member outage off of Hollywood/Vine Road, a 60 member outage off S Valley Loop, a 12 member outage off Hiland Road, a 65 member outage off Pittman, a 58 member outage off Carney, a 48 member outage off S Michelle Lane and Chugach View Dr., a 28 member outage off of S Lewis Loop, and a 68 member outage off King Arthur and Little John.

"We have new crews coming in off rest and are hoping to make some significant progress over the next few hours getting the power back on for a majority of folks. Thank you for hanging in there with us!"

Most outages have been caused by fallen tree limbs and snow unloading.

Plowing:

The cities of Wasilla, Palmer, and Houston report that they have all deployed crews to plow the main roads and will continue working to reach the side roads as soon as possible, and asks for patience as crews work, even as snow continues to fall in some areas.

The City of Houston posted this message to residents:

“We only have two workers and nearly 80 miles of road to plow, unlike other agencies who have a big fleet of trucks and lots of workers. We have been out plowing and sanding the roads as needed the last few days already…We're working as fast as we can given the size of our crew and all the continuing snowfall that we are getting.”

The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (DTPF) offers resources on their website to find out the status of what priority level your roads are and when they expect we'll get there with their plows. “Please keep in mind that we focus on Priority 1 roads while the snow is falling and will move down the list as fast as possible.” Please visit www.dot.alaska.gov/wintermap for more information.

To check road conditions before heading out, DTPF offers road condition information and road cameras. Check out www.511.alaska.gov, the 511 Alaska mobile app, or call 5-1-1 from any phone in Alaska for road condition information. More winter season resources are listed on our winter homepage!

The Frontiersman will post additional information and updates as available.