The National Weather Service has issued a special weather statement warning southcentral Alaskan residents that the combination of warmer weather and precipitation next week may cause flooding.
Meteorologist Michael Kutz with Service says they issued the statement in a precautionary fashion in case property owners along rivers or streams need to move items back.
Kutz: “Things will be warming up so it’ll be adding to the risks of some of the localized break-ups, not necessarily a full break-up on many of the rivers nearby, but potentially in the lower lying areas that can melt off quickly and flood in the immediate area where the break ups occur.”
Another reason for issuing the statement as a warning is in case any urban areas are already having issued with standing water, there’s time for those areas to be taken care of before conditions get wetter.
Kutz: “Street flooding or basically ponding of water and this occurs when the snow and other new rainfall melt together and basically pond up in the middle of roadways so that a lot of places become locally flooded and of course this is a hazard to traffic.”
Kutz says several weather systems will move through southcentral Alaska next week, fluctuating temperatures from below freezing at night to mid-forties during the days.
He also encourages residents to make sure that any remaining snow in yards will not cause water from precipitation to pool around homes, potentially flooding lower levels.