Weather

Power outages hit hundreds in Fairbanks area after winter storm

A winter storm left hundreds of people in the Fairbanks area without power Saturday morning.

Golden Valley Electric Association said around 8 a.m. Saturday about 1,300 of its members were experiencing outages.

"As the winds picked up through the night, we had around 4,000 members without power," the utility said on its Facebook page.

A map of outages on the GVEA's website showed a total of 50 outages around 11 a.m., affecting 1,247 customers. Eight crews were working to restore power Saturday morning.

By about 6 p.m. Saturday, 205 customers were still affected by outages, according to the utility's website.

[Storm passing over Alaska dumps snow in Fairbanks, spares Anchorage heavy snowfall]

The Fairbanks area got about 8 to 12 inches of snow, most of which accumulated Friday, said National Weather Service Meteorologist Cary Freeman.

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"Probably the big thing was the winds," he said. "We had gusts of 52 mph at the Fairbanks airport, which is significant for the Fairbanks area."

The storm that dumped snow on the Interior also brought power outages to Nome and Kotzebue earlier this week as it rolled across Alaska.

Annie Zak

Annie Zak was a business reporter for the ADN between 2015 and 2019.

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