What a virtually snowless winter and early spring means for flower beds, car and ski trail maintenance, recreators, snowplowers and pooper scoopers in Anchorage.

This is Alaska’s first fatal avalanche reported this season. It is also the country’s deadliest since February 2023.

The 90th annual Fur Rendezvous Festival kicked off Thursday around Anchorage and is expected to feature its traditional late-winter celebration, despite a winter season marred by low snowfall.

Anchorage has experienced its lowest snowfall from December to mid-February since records began in 1953, with only 4.3 inches, leading to significant changes in winter events like the Iditarod and Fur Rondy due to unseasonably warm, windy weather.

Multiple avalanches have closed Hatcher Pass Road in Alaska due to heavy wet snowfall, with officials forecasting several days of clearance work.