After recent rain, Anchorage will see more seasonably cold weather

Colder weather and mostly clear skies are forecast for the Anchorage area through next week, with a chance of snow starting Tuesday.

It’s a notable departure from recent warm, rainy weather in the Anchorage Bowl.

“It’s going to be beautiful and sunny and dry and cold for most of the week,” meteorologist Nicole Sprinkles with the National Weather Service in Anchorage said Saturday.

Some “spotty snow showers” were possible beginning Tuesday night through Thursday, but Sprinkles said she didn’t foresee significant accumulation.

“We’re having more of a northerly flow, and anytime we have more of a northerly flow, it’s going to be colder and also going to promote more of a drier kind of pattern,” she said.

High temperatures are expected to hover around freezing throughout the Anchorage Bowl throughout most of the week, with lows in the teens.

Mid-October generally marks the beginning of Alaska’s winter weather season, and Sprinkles said the temperatures this week were seasonable.

“This is pretty typical,” she said.

The forecast was similar for the Mat-Su, with freezing temperatures and sunny skies likely through most of the week there too.

On nights with clear skies in the forecast, Anchorage residents will have a better chance of seeing the northern lights: Slightly elevated aurora activity was forecast Saturday night and Sunday night, following a dazzling display early Saturday in Anchorage.

Looking ahead, the aurora is expected to be especially active at the end of October and in early November, according to the Geophysical Institute’s aurora forecast.