After a winter marked so far by unusually warm temperatures and an unusual lack of snow, Southcentral Alaska may finally be getting the winter weather some residents have been missing. A significant snowfall, followed by a plunge in temperatures, is forecast in the coming days.
In an advisory posted Wednesday afternoon, the National Weather Service wrote that Anchorage could expect 5-10 inches of snow starting Thursday afternoon and lasting through Friday afternoon. Additional snow was forecast through Saturday.
A weather system moving through Southcentral was forecast to bring snow in two waves. Snowfall was expected to begin Thursday afternoon and taper off Thursday night. A second period of "substantial snowfall" was expected to sweep over Southcentral Friday afternoon and evening.
In a public statement Wednesday morning, NWS forecasters wrote that snowfall Thursday and Friday could be the "heaviest snowfall of the season so far for most of the area."
For communities stretching from the Kenai Peninsula through Anchorage and into the Matanuska Valley, forecasters say some snow accumulation is very likely, and large accumulations are a possibility, though they warn that "this developing storm system is rather complex in nature which is still causing some uncertainty as to where snowfall will be heaviest."
"It could just be a couple of inches to a foot depending on where you are at," Anchorage National Weather Center forecaster Michael Kutz said.
According to Kutz, Anchorage's hillside area, the Western Kenai Peninsula, Eagle River and the lower Matanuska-Susitna area and north along the Parks Highway can expect higher accumulations of snow.
The snow is the result of a front moving into the northern Gulf of Alaska, Anchorage National Weather Service forecaster Kimberly Hoeppner said Wednesday morning.
"Essentially the storm system will be parked out just south of the Alaska Peninsula Thursday morning and that will be sending a front up the northern gulf that is driving the weather through the beginning of the weekend."
In addition to the snow, Southcentral Alaska residents can expect the first period of "significant below-average temperatures."
During the weekend, temperatures will drop and will remain low into next week "likely struggl(ing) to rise above single digits," the statement read, "with nighttime temperatures below, or perhaps significantly below, zero."
"Basically we are going to have colder temperatures for the better part of the week," Kutz said. "Thursday it should be back in the 20s and Friday we might start knocking close to 30, but we need to warm up so the atmosphere has the capacity to carry the snow."