A fresh layer of snow blanketed Anchorage and the Matanuska Valley during a fast-moving storm that extended into Saturday, prompting Anchorage officials to declare the city's first "plow-out" of the season for early Sunday morning.
Four to 9 inches fell in Anchorage and Eagle River between Friday and Saturday afternoon. Starting at 6:30 a.m. Sunday, the city's public works department will be engaged in an all-hands-on-deck effort to plow all city-maintained streets in 72 hours, said Alan Czajkowski, public works director.
The city declares plow-outs for accumulations of 4 or more inches. The plow-out begins once the snow has stopped falling, and main arteries get first priority for safety reasons, Czajkowski said. He said the public works staff plans to update an online map Sunday with the status of the plow-out.
He said the Sunday morning start is timed with the start of the public works department's day shift. Czajkowski also added that the effort to clear all city-maintained streets in the 72-hour window is a goal, not a requirement.
Because plow-outs are expensive and use up overtime, the city tries to avoid them as long as residents have safe passage, Czajkowski said. If only several inches of snow have fallen, he said, the city goes about its normal plowing operations.
"This time, we got the snow, we will," Czajkowski said Saturday. He asked that people try not park on the street in residential areas to help clear the way for snowplows.
The city maintains about half the streets in Anchorage; the state maintains the other half, including most major roads, like the Seward Highway, the Glenn Highway and Minnesota Drive.
State transportation officials have said that steep budget cuts and fewer resources will affect the amount of time it takes for state crews to plow roads.
Here are preliminary snowfall totals calculated by the National Weather Service as of noon Saturday:
Anchorage
Eagle River Nature Center: 8.5 inches
Eagle River Loop Road: 7.5 inches
Glen Alps: 7 inches
Abbott Road and Elmore Road: 7 inches
Anchorage National Weather Service Office: 7 inches
Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson: 6.5 inches
Baxter Road and Northern Lights Boulevard: 6 inches
Anchorage Hillside, 600 feet and below: 6 inches
Chugiak: 6 inches
Prominence Point and Golden View Drive: 4 inches
Golden View Drive and Rabbit Creek Road: 4 inches
Mat-Su
Willow (Hatcher Pass): 8 inches
Palmer (Lazy Mountain): 7 inches
Houston: 7 inches
Big Lake: 6 inches
Palmer (near airport): 4 inches