Anchorage schools reopen but with scores of bus routes canceled due to bad roads
Nov. 16—Nearly all Anchorage schools reopened Thursday as plow crews made headway after several winter storms in less than a week buried the city in feet of snow.
But higher temperatures and rain on packed snow created treacherous, icy road conditions in various locations, prompting the Anchorage School District to cancel 44 bus routes early Thursday and a half-dozen more a few hours later. O'Malley Elementary School on the upper Anchorage Hillside remained in remote learning.
District officials instructed families who didn't feel comfortable getting students to school to notify administrators for excused absences. After-school activities and community rentals are canceled except for the All State Music Festival at West and Bartlett high schools.
By about 9 a.m., the National Weather Service had measured a trace of rain in about six hours at the agency's Sand Lake offices in West Anchorage. That was enough to create slick conditions on many roads, though others were just wet.
Reports of at least a few stuck school buses came in once routes were underway. Some parents complained about students forced by uncleared sidewalks to walk next to traffic on slick roads.
Just under half of the city's roughly 60 snow removal sectors had been cleared by midmorning Thursday, with another 19 listed as "in progress," according to a municipal update. While drivers described at least some of the city's main roads as mostly clear, some neighborhoods were still unplowed and covered in now-icy compacted snow ramps or moguls.
Mayor Dave Bronson on Wednesday said he entered an informal agreement to send municipal plows to help clear state-owned roadways at the cost of clearing residential neighborhoods more quickly.
Thursday's warmer, breezy conditions aren't expected to last long.
The weather service logged "a few sporadic bursts" of rain Wednesday night into Thursday as temperatures climbed into the high 30s and even low 40s, according to meteorologist Kristine Chen. A cooler air mass, however, is expected to trigger lower temperatures by afternoon or evening and set up potentially difficult road conditions by Friday morning, Chen said.
By the weekend, Anchorage could see single-digit lows, with temperatures far below zero in the Susitna Valley and Copper River basin, she said.
A winter weather advisory through Friday evening called for 6 to 14 more inches of snow for the Susitna Valley, where reports Wednesday ranged from 5 inches to a foot, with more accumulation north of Talkeetna and toward the Alaska Range.
The Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District announced early Thursday that Susitna Valley schools would be closed for the day due to unsafe road conditions. Schools affected are in regions 4, 5 and 6, ranging from Goose Bay and Big Lake in the south to Talkeetna and Trapper Creek in the north.
Forecasters say they are keeping an eye on a new low-pressure system that's developing in the North Pacific Ocean that could bring warmer temperatures early next week, but also the potential for more snow.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
