Anchorage breaks January snowfall record as storm continues

A winter storm pushed Anchorage to a record 36.4 inches of snow for January, prompting early school dismissals and difficult driving conditions. Police reported dozens of vehicles stuck and multiple crashes without injuries as plows worked to clear major roads.

AI Comment from GPT 5:

Anchorage set a new January snowfall record with 36.4 inches as a multi-day storm prompted early school dismissals, difficult travel, and round-the-clock plowing; forecasters noted this month also set a January record for liquid-equivalent precipitation and has been exceptionally wet. While January isn’t typically Anchorage’s snowiest month, the post highlights that recent warmer winters have coincided with snowier Januaries.

The related articles reinforce both the extremity and variability of winter across the North this season. Snowiest January on record for Anchorage corroborates the record-setting totals in the post, while Anchorage hits 100-inch winter snow total at earliest date on record adds broader seasonal context about frequent heavy events and their impacts on schools and roads. The contrast with last winter’s extremes—both the lack of snow in February expected to end with least snowfall on record for Anchorage and the damaging warm, windy storm in Anchorage power outages extend to fourth day in wake of 'extreme' warm January storm—underscores how variable winter conditions have been locally. Regionally and across the hemisphere, heavy snow has recently strained infrastructure and travel, as seen in Chukotka utility services step up work due to heavy snowfall, widespread outages and closures in Heavy snow brings power outages, road closures and cancellations across Nova Scotia, and exceptional snowfall followed by a sharp cold snap in Moscow Gets Last Brunt of Winter Storm Ahead of Coldsnap. Intense local accumulations like those in Sweden’s mountains in Watch snowmobiles drive under the snow in Bydalsfjällen: “Completely crazy” mirror Anchorage’s experience of short-duration, high-impact snowfall, situating the post within a broader pattern of disruptive winter storms across multiple regions this month.