The National Weather Service in Anchorage reports that a Winter Weather Advisory is in effect from Thursday morning through Thursday afternoon through Portage Valley and Turnagain Pass. Blizzard conditions are possible with total snow accumulations of 4-8 inches possible with up to 15 inches possible through the Pass. Winds could gust up to 45mph, making driving conditions up to Anchorage or down to the Kenai Peninsula very difficult.
KSRM spoke with the National Weather Service, “(The Advisory) extends a little bit further to the west out there basically near the Cooper Landing area, even before they get to the Seward Highway, but basically looking at a lot more snow on top of the snow they’ve already gotten and barely cleared away now. The other side of it is going to be some breezy conditions which will also reduce visibilities due to the blowing snow that comes up, but the winds are going to kind of whip it around a little bit and that’s going to make for low visibilities and some localized drifting. The other part of it is a lot of the higher elevations they’re going to see more snow and more wind so that particular area climbing up into the Pass and coming back down on the other side are still going to be pretty nasty. Moose Pass area and heading down towards Seward has been getting some pretty fair amounts of snow and, of course, that’s another risk that we’re seeing is they’ve been finding unstable layers in the snow that’s up in the mountains.”
The fluctuating temperatures, on top of the winter weather, could make things more difficult, according to the National Weather Service, “So, there’s a risk of avalanche possibility to enter in on top of everything else. Things are going to be unstable. There will be places where the temperature will rise up above the freezing mark and that changes the density of the snow so when you have dissimilar densities, one on top of each other, it makes things for avalanche a bigger problem.”
Plan on slippery road conditions. Areas of blowing snow could significantly reduce visibility. The hazardous conditions could impact all commuters.
The National Weather Service says that while the advisory is expected to limit the blowing snow potential in Portage Valley, heavy snow and gusty winds will continue for higher elevations through Thursday evening.
