Sloppy weather causes problems around borough

MAT-SU — Weird winter weather continues to plague the Valley with above-freezing temperatures and rain predicted through Monday.

Poor weather led to the cancelation of a dog sled race planned for Friday. The Northern Lights 300 that starts out of Big Lake was canceled due to unfavorable weather and trail conditions, according to the race’s website. The 300-mile race, a Yukon Quest and Iditarod qualifier, goes to Finger Lake and loops back around.

The constant freeze-thaw cycle closed schools Thursday in outlying areas of the Mat-Su Borough, from Houston to Talkeetna and in Glacier View.

“It’ll get slushy and refreeze, get a little slushy and refreeze,” said Catherine Esary, Mat-Su Borough School District spokeswoman. “It’s not necessarily the schools. We can plow the school, it’s the back roads where the buses are traveling that are the issue.”

Despite the added moisture and break-up like conditions, borough flood watchers said they haven’t heard of trouble along area rivers.

“The flood gauges, they all seem to be holding steady below flood stage,” borough emergency manager Casey Cook said. “I haven’t gotten any calls from people dealing with any flooding.”

The National Weather Service predicts more of the same sort of weather for the next few days with highs in the 30s and 40s through Monday in both the Matanuska and Susitna valleys. The rain might mix with snow around Sunday and Monday.

Thursday afternoon, the West Lakes Fire Department checked the Big Lake ice road and decided that for the time being, it would limit emergency traffic on the ice to smaller SUV-style command vehicles. Which is to say, no rescue trucks or ambulances on the ice for now.

“It’s not that it’s too thin, it’s just it is so sloppy out there it’s thawing fast and we’re afraid that if we get a big rig out there it’ll get stuck,” West Lakes Chief Bill Gamble said.

Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270 or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.