Weather
Alaska, America’s most northern state, is no stranger to snow. In fact, the state records more snow totals than any other state by a large margin. By those standards, it would take a massive amount of snow to cause any disruption in a place known for the fluffy white stuff. Unfortunately (or fortunately for ski and snowboard enthusiast) for residents of the Last Frontier, the snowiest January ever recorded just occurred.
Recently, Anchorage, Alaska’s largest city with nearly 400,000 residents, has just recorded its snowiest January on record. Tucked in between the mighty Cook Inlet and pushed right up against the Chugach Mountains, Anchorage sits in prime location for some serious snow totals. Moisture from pacific storms builds up over the inlet, and thanks to orographic lift caused by the mountains, forces that moisture to drop over Anchorage. Thanks to Alaska’s northernly location, that moisture often falls in the form of snow.
While Anchorage and its surrounding areas often sees significant snowfall, January 2026 broke the record for the snowiest January on record. The city received a whopping 39.7 inches of snow, nearly 4 feet of deep dense coastal powder. These totals eclipsed the previously set record in 2000 of 34.4 inches of snow. Brian Brettschneider, a climate researcher from National Weather Service, told APN News, “The amount of precipitation we’ve already received in January is what we typically get from January 1st through about May 10th, and there’s been almost 10 years where we didn’t even have this much precipitation all the way through the end of June.”
While these impressive snow totals would bring cheer to a ski resort, in an urban setting massive totals like the ones seen can spell disaster for commuters. As of the most recent winter storm, Anchorage Police Department reported 99 vehicles in distress–often known by the local slang “ditch divers”–and multiple vehicle accidents, totaling to 12 injuries.
Nearby Alyeska ski resort, a world-famous mountain with amazing views of the Turnagain Arm and impressive snow totals, has also seen a massive year with the consistent winter storms. So far, Alyeska’s upper slopes has accumulated a 295″ inches of snow. While deep snow totals on the pitches of one of North Americas premier ski resorts is always a plus, one still has to get there first.
The nearest internation airport to Alyeska is in Anchorage, the epicenter of the snow related issues. Brian Brettschneider continued on to say that “January is not typically a snowy month for Anchorage—the snowiest, on average, is December–but as Alaska’s climate has warmed, the city has seen snowier and snowier Januarys.”
Brettschneider further stated in his interview with APN, “I think, historically, that’s because it used to be a lot colder in January, and it’s just harder to squeeze out as much moisture in January, it being the coldest month,” he said. “But now that January has warmed 5 or 6 degrees, that limitation really is no longer in effect.”
While Alaska has seen some unseen before January snow totals, they are experts in snow removal. Plow and sand trucks have been out in masses to clear the streets day and night. Anchorage is not yet out of the woods with January coming to a close though for massive snow totals. Anchorage regularly sees snow all the way into May, so this record could end up being the first of several for the largest city in the Last Frontier.
