Snow to taper off

MAT-SU — The Valley is under a winter weather advisory until noon today as snow blanketed Southcentral Alaska — in some places in record-setting depths.

According to the National Weather Service, up to 2 inches could accumulate today, bringing the total for this storm to 8 to 13 inches. Snow should taper off, though, in the afternoon.

But the weather service says there’s still a chance for snow showers through Thursday. By Saturday the weather should return to what it was a week ago — mostly sunny with highs in the 30s.

That warming earlier last week caused gigantic puddles forming in the usual places — Peck Street and Bogard Road, the Carrs parking lot, the area behind Wendy’s, the road in front of the Frontiersman.

At least in Wasilla, though, it didn’t add up to flooding.

“We are always watching for flooding. We didn’t get any reports of that. We had water over the roads in places,” Assistant Central Mat-Su Fire Chief Michael Keenan said.

What they did have was quite a few car accidents.

“On Saturday, I think we had probably close to a dozen motor vehicle accidents that we responded to,” he said. “Saturday, it started to melt off and I think a lot the people got complacent.”

The accidents in his area were mostly minor-injury type crashes. The most serious was on Fairview Loop.

“We had to take some doors to get people out, but they were all relatively minor injuries,” Keenan said.

Alaska State Troopers reported three crashes, all in the Wasilla area on Saturday, all due to drivers who weren’t able to stop in time to avoid a crash.

Sunday evening, the weather claimed two lives, one of them a Valley resident, in a head-on crash on the Parks Highway near Cantwell. A full account of that crash is available elsewhere in the Frontiersman.

By Monday, Keenan said, the plows had a chance to do their work and the roads were mostly sanded. It was much quieter around his department. Still, he said, drivers should exercise caution.

“The roads are bad so we need everybody to slow down,” Keenan said.

The National Weather Service, meanwhile, was reporting a record-breaking snowfall in Anchorage. The city has been experiencing more-or-less identical weather to the Valley.

“Daily snowfall total of 6.2 inches on Saturday at the NWS forecast office on Sand Lake Road sets a new daily record, breaking the previous record of 4.6 inches set in 1949,” according to the NWS.

The same report estimated six inches in Wasilla and 4.5 in Palmer as of Sunday morning.

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