Heavy snow returns to Southeast Alaska on Monday as businesses and residents continue current removal
- Jasz Garrett
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
Weather service says to take the weekend to prepare as confidence increases for possible 14-19" in Juneau, with heaviest snowfall expected Monday night
By Jasz Garrett
Juneau Independent
This story has been updated to note Fred Meyer is scheduled to reopen Sunday.
A weather system arriving late Sunday night will sweep into Southeast Alaska on Monday, bringing with it heavy snow across the region, according to a winter storm watch issued Saturday by the National Weather Service Juneau.
An initial warmup moving up from the south through the afternoon and overnight hours on Monday will result in some locations changing over to a rain and snow mix along the Icy Strait Corridor from Elfin Cove to Gustavus and Juneau, as well as areas farther to the south.
However, weakening winds combined with heavy snow showers on Tuesday will more likely see a switch back to snow, resulting in significant accumulations on Tuesday.
The winter storm watch is in effect through late Tuesday night, with snow accumulation of 14 to 19 inches possible for Juneau. Winds could also gust as high as 40 miles per hour.
"Some factors to consider as we're moving through is the storm looks a little warmer, so snow totals could be significantly impacted if we get a lot more rain or a mix Monday night into Tuesday," said Andrew Park, a NWSJ meteorologist. "So these numbers could change as we move into tomorrow and we get a better feel for the system, but right now that's our forecasted amounts."
Periodic snow showers fell across portions of the panhandle Friday and "clear and cold" conditions are expected through the weekend. The weather service said to expect the highest temperatures to be in the teens and overnight lows to most likely be in the single digits all over Juneau, with it warming up going into Monday as the moisture returns.
Many Juneau residents are still trying to dig out of the heavy snow. Fred Meyer remained closed Saturday as snow removal took place after evacuating Thursday, but is set to reopen Sunday according to Tiffany Sanders, corporate affairs manager for Fred Meyer and QFC Divisions of Kroger.
"After ongoing snow removal efforts, the Juneau Fred Meyer will reopen for business on Sunday, January 4, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The pharmacy will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m," Sanders wrote in an email. "We appreciate the community's patience and support while we work to safely remove snow. The fuel center will remain closed at this time and we hope to reopen in the coming days."
The Nugget Mall closed Friday until further notice out of an abundance of caution as roof snow load conditions are assessed. Other businesses have also closed.
"The main message I would be telling folks is now is your window that if you can safely start mitigation efforts for getting some of the snow off your roof, off of infrastructure, off of things that you need to get it off of in anticipation of getting more snow that could end up being heavy, now's the time to be doing that," said Jeff Garmon, head NWSJ meteorologist.
December saw a record total of 82 inches, according to the weather service. It was also the second snowiest month of all months. The snowiest month ever on record was February 1965 when Juneau experienced 86.3 inches.
"If people are walking around saying that they can't recall seeing as much snow, there's a lot of truth to that, because the record bears that out," Garmon said.
Details about the storm will continue to be refined through the weekend. Additional messaging and forecasting can be found on the weather service's social media and website.
"Some complexities and challenges that we're trying to overcome here is, 'When do we see a southerly surge push through and that transition to a rain-snow mix and how that can impact snow total?''" Park said. "It will start out snow, fluffy snow, and as we progress through Monday, our forecast thoughts are it'll progressively get wetter and heavier, and at some point we'll transition to a rain snow, and then likely go back to snow."
• Contact Jasz Garrett at jasz@juneauindependent.com or (907) 723-9356.
