Winter’s return

WASILLA — The first significant snowfall of the season struck the Mat-Su in the early hours Friday morning causing everything from accidents to vehicles off the road to power outages.

According National Weather Service (NWS) snow totals, Hatcher Pass reigned supreme in the region with a foot reported since the rain turned to snow shortly after midnight. NWS reported the official snowfall total in Palmer at four inches although some spots received more. The changeover from liquid to frozen precipitation resulted in black ice formation on roads throughout South-Central Alaska including here in the Mat-Su.

Palmer Alaska State Trooper Megan Peters reported receiving 10 vehicles in distress and five crashes during a three-hour period starting at 5:30 a.m. Friday. Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (ADOT&PF) began issuing road condition bulletins shortly before 6 a.m. with the first going to Talkeetna Spur Road at 5:49 a.m.

The region’s two major highways were not unaffected. The morning commute along Glenn and Parks Highway was slowed considerably with close to a half-foot of snow on the road near Palmer. Those having to travel Valley main trunk lines found it even slower going. One of the area’s major arteries, Knik-Goose Bay (KGB) Road, Peters reported, presented more traveling woes than most.

Many borough secondary roads forced drivers to a snail’s pace as black ice loomed over a dusting of snow out in the Big Lake-Houston areas. One driver reported seeing eight accidents or vehicles off the road along Hollywood Road to Vine and down to KGB.

Mat-Su Borough Public Works Director Terry Dolan said diligence by the borough’s road-service contractors paid off.

“The (storm’s) snow pattern was unusual. Most of the (reported) problems were on state roads,” Dolan said. “A number of our contractors pre-sanded and chipped the roads and then came on early in the morning. We were able to clean up pretty good.”

Morning temperatures ranged from the low-to-mid 20’s across the region and were expected rebound above freezing. By Friday afternoon, NWS pegged the thermometer at 29 in Palmer and above freezing (33) at Talkeetna.

The wet, heavy snow also caused power outages across Southcentral. Matanuska Electric Association’s (MEA) Facebook page showed trouble spots popping up as the weighted down tree limbs contacted power lines. About 55 percent of the Peters Creek/Eklutna area 2,200 customers were without power until mid-afternoon. The Outer Wasilla Fishhook Road area has as much as 33 percent power failure for most of the morning.

MEA reported having six crews in addition to two contractor crews out in the field most of the day dealing with persistent outages across the service area. By late afternoon, outages were under 500, or less than one percent of the total more than 62,000 customers.

Businesses catering to winter drivers had more than they cared for. One of those, Aleyska Tire in Palmer, found themselves inundated as the sun came up Friday morning.

“We opened the doors this morning and had 25 or 30 people waiting to get in,” said shop Assistant Manager Tony Egbert about customers making the dash to get winter tires changed over. “We went from (wait time) of 45 minutes to an hour-and-a-half. We were filled up by 10 a.m. and the parking lot is four (rows) deep.”

Egbert said he had to quit scheduling appointments early in the day and that Saturday was expected to be just as busy. He added that turn-around time may still be a little longer than usual for the first two days of the new week.