Temperatures in Anchorage are expected to reach the low 30s and could even rise slightly above freezing this week, meteorologists said.
A warm front is drifting into the area from the Gulf of Alaska and temperatures will begin warming up Monday throughout the Anchorage Bowl, said National Weather Service meteorologist Adam Przepiora. By Wednesday, temperatures could rise slightly above freezing, although Przepiora said it won’t heat up for a long enough time period that the snow could melt.
If anything, Przepiora said the warm up could compact the snow that’s already fallen, making it denser and less fluffy.
The warm front is also expected to bring light snowfall into Anchorage early Tuesday morning, although Przepiora said it will only amount to a few inches. There’s another chance for snow Wednesday night and into Thursday, although it’s not expected to be significant.
The warm weather follows a cold January. Temperatures throughout the month were on average nearly 11 degrees below normal and the weather service declared it the eighth coldest January on record. The month broke a 22-month consecutive streak of above average monthly temperatures.
We did it!!! January 2020 was the first below normal temperature month in 22 consecutive months! The last time was February of 2018. It was the 8th coldest January and also the 14th coldest month on record. If you felt like January was cold…you were right!!! #Cold #Alaska pic.twitter.com/04UQofKKUx
— NWS Anchorage (@NWSAnchorage) February 1, 2020
Przepiora said weather in the Valley is likely to be similar to that in Anchorage.
The weather service issued a winter weather advisory Sunday night into Monday morning for the Portage Valley and Turnagain Arm. Snowfall is expected to mix with wind gusts of up to 45 mph.
Przepiora said conditions are expected to be worst near Portage but that driving could be difficult until Seward. Visibility along the Seward Highway is expected to be reduced to about a half-mile.
Whittier and Portage Valley are expected to get 5 to 9 inches of snow while the rest of the area could see between 1 and 4 inches.