Monday starts with snow, but ends with rain

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - In terms of temperature, it was a fairly “normal” Sunday with morning lows ranging from in the upper single digits to the low to mid-teens. The mercury climbed into the lower 20s by early Sunday evening, again near “normal” for late January. That’s about all we’ll see of “normal”, unfortunately, heading through the upcoming week.

Temperatures will slowly rise through the 20s overnight and the first half of Monday. A period of light snow will accompany the warming trend just in time for the morning drive, so plan for extra travel time and allow extra distance between you and the person ahead of you as roads become even more snow covered, and thus extra slick.

The storm system responsible for this next round of precipitation has a lot of warm air with it from the Pacific Ocean. Temperatures will climb even higher into the lower and middle 30s by early Monday afternoon, causing the snow to mix with and completely change to rain. That will create slushy and sloppy road conditions for the evening commute.

Guess what? Those “warm” temperatures in the mid 30s stick around for Monday night, Tuesday, and possibly into Wednesday as well; therefore, much of the precipitation will fall as liquid, rather than frozen for Anchorage, the Mat-Su, and the western Kenai Peninsula. Temperatures drop back below freezing by Thursday, meaning a return to snow, as more energy and moisture move across the southern part of the state for week’s end.

I hear the voice of my father, the car guru, in my head reminding me to check that the windshield wipers are in good working order, and that there’s plenty of washer fluid in the tank. Check.

Stay safe and enjoy the week.

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