Skwentna snowfall continues

Tues pm -With temperatures hovering around the freezing mark, the Upper Susitna Valley received a dose of heavy wet snow early Tuesday.  At the Talkeetna airport, the flight service measured four and half inches of snowfall by 10 am. Other estimates near Talkeetna were closer to 6 or 8 inches.  Skwentna airport reported 32 inches of new snow.  Residents in Trapper Creek reported eight inches and Petersville Road received at least seventeen inches of new snow.

Skwentna resident and KTNA listener, Bill White, reported that he could not recall a year in the past 23 years with a snowfall like this one.  He lives 12 miles up river from Skwentna and estimates he received over 40 inches of snow in the last 5 days.  The Skwentna Post Office reported over 30 inches of new snow by 9:30 this morning.

School buses had problems getting to Trapper Creek Elementary School and eight kids didn’t make it to school this morning.

DOT crews at Chulitna reported a foot of new snow.  The DOT called in off-duty equipment operators to plow roads to keep up with the falling snow.

Further south, in Palmer, strong winds and rain knocked out power to three schools.  Approximately two thousand customers lost power due to the storm.  As soon as power was restored there, crews were called to restore power to the Petersville area, where the storm knocked out power to approximately one hundred residents.

As of 4 pm  snow was still falling in Skwentna.  The weather service forecasts more snow tomorrow (wed). Residents can check the DOT website for information on road conditions.