Over the past two weeks, many Anchorage residents have been frustrated by snow-choked roads as the storm dumped 40 inches of snow on the city in 10 days.
Tiffany Hanson, who lives in Spenard, said graders finally came through her neighborhood for the first time Friday.
“Every day I would come home and get stuck in a dead end and dig for three hours,” Hanson said. “It was terrible. I was exhausted and my shoulders hurt.”
Hanson’s hospital shift started at 4 a.m., so staying home wasn’t an option for her. She has lived in Anchorage for 21 years and said this is the worst snow removal response she has ever seen.
Her elderly neighbor has heart disease, and Hanson said she worries about her after seeing the roads in her neighborhood deteriorate so badly.
“I thought, ‘There’s no way an ambulance can get to her when she needs it,'” Hanson said.
Anchorage broke its November snowfall record in mid-month after repeated storms. Climatologists say the city could see more such heavy snowfall in the future.
Rick Thoman, a climate expert at the International Arctic Research Center, said the oceans and atmosphere will continue to warm as climate change progresses. As ocean temperatures rise, more water evaporates into the atmosphere.
And for Alaska, that translates into increased precipitation. That could mean a winter with lots of rain and no snow, but it could also mean a winter with lots of snow.
“As long as it stays cold enough to snow, we can expect to see more events of this type in Anchorage,” Thoman said. “Based on the general principle that extreme precipitation events are increasing.”
This is the second time in less than a year that Anchorage has broken a monthly precipitation record. Last December, parts of the city received well over three feet of snow.
Climatologists also point out that warmer temperatures tend to make snowfall denser, wetter and harder to remove.
Mayor Dave Bronson acknowledged residents’ complaints about neighborhood roads in an interview Friday. Still, he praised the city’s snow removal efforts as a success.
“We executed our plan, and that’s the definition of success,” he said.
Bronson said Anchorage’s snow plow fleet is not capable of dealing alone with record snowfall like the one Anchorage saw this month or last winter.
“We staff for average snowfall and hire contractors to fill in that gap during peak times. And last week we certainly had a peak,” Bronson said.
Bronson said the city will bring in a private contractor this year and begin clearing the roads within five days. But even with extra snow removal equipment, in some cases residents like Hanson had to wait a week or more for their neighborhoods to be plowed.
Bronson said the city could add more contracts to deal with future heavy snow years, but that decision would be up to Paul VanLandingham, the city’s street maintenance manager. Stated.
“If Paul needs them, he gets them. I don’t micromanage it. That’s a really good question for Paul.”
VanLandingham did not respond to requests for comment by phone or email.
This month’s snowfall broke the November record set in 1994. But while it’s a significant amount, it’s not unprecedented, climate expert Thoman said.
“The idea of, ‘Oh, we could never have seen this happening, we could never have been prepared for this.’ The climate information that we have at hand certainly shows that this is what’s going to happen. , and what we’ve seen repeatedly over the past 70 years,” Thoman said.
“If you were born in Anchorage in 1950, you probably saw snow like this several times in your lifetime,” he added.
Bronson on Friday expressed doubts that climate change is causing extreme weather events.
“I’m not an atmospheric scientist or anything. I don’t know what’s causing it,” he said. “Has it been getting warmer over the past few years? I don’t know.”
However, in a City Board of Education speech Monday at the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce, the mayor acknowledged that heavy rain could continue into the future and that the city may need to plan for it in its snow removal response.
“Alaska has experienced record-breaking storms for the second year in a row. It is clear that weather patterns are changing, and I am confident that the citizens of Anchorage will receive appropriate and timely snowplow response.” We are committed to working with our street maintenance team to secure the necessary funding and resources.”
More snow and rain is expected in Anchorage this week.