Alaska coping well with heavy snowfalls by Sean Batty
Over the last month the U.S. state of Alaska has been buffeted with copious amounts of snow, with some records being broken.
The largest city, Anchorage, has been coping well with the snow despite receiving around 22 inches (56cm) above average for December. The city saw nearly 37 inches (94cm) of snow fall during the last month of the year, where usually only around 15 inches (38cm) falls. More snowplough drivers have been taken on to cope with the extra hours required to keep the roads clear.
January has also got off to a snowy start with the National Weather Service in Anchorage issuing a snow advisory for Tuesday night into Wednesday afternoon, when it is forecasting between 6 and 12 inches (15 and 31cm) of snow will fall. In the Girdwood and Portage areas of the city up to 14 inches (36cm) is possible.
The Alyeska ski resort, which is around 40 miles south of Anchorage, has also been blanketed with snow. The mountain resort has seen record breaking snowfall during December with an astonishing 283 inches (718cm) - almost 24 feet of snow falling during the month. The previous monthly record was set in January 2001 when 274 inches (696cm) fell.
At Alyeska the most noticeable change was when 100 inches fell in 7 days during the Christmas period storms.
The resort now has about 102 inches (259cm) of lying snow on its upper slopes and 52 inches (132cm) on the lower areas.
It is expected that Alyeska will surpass its annual record for the season of 1,116 inches (2,835 cm) set during 1997-1998 winter season.
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