Snow from the Harrigan Centennial Hall is piled up near the Sitka Public Library today. More than four inches of snow fell over the long Thanksgiving Day weekend. About 1.4 inches fell overnight. (Sentinel Photo)
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
A number of vehicles slid off the road over the holiday weekend as several inches of snow fell and driving conditions became hazardous.
Between Wednesday and today, the Sitka Police Department received calls about three traffic accidents, SPD executive assistant Serena Wild told the Sentinel today. No injuries were reported, she added.
Not all traffic mishaps got reported to police, Wild said.
“Some of the vehicle accidents didn’t necessarily report to us,” Wild said. “People went into the ditch, they didn’t necessarily call us… Sometimes they’ll just get reported as traffic hazards to us. Someone will call us and say, ‘Hey, my car is in the ditch. I’m working on getting it out,’” Wild said.
Somebody ran into the Sitka Realty building at the corner of Harbor Drive and Maksoutoff Street, Wild said.
“But officers were able to locate the vehicle that did it,” she added.
“We did get a lot of reports of slippery roads, and when it’s city streets we let our city crews know which ones are super icy, and when it’s HPR or Sawmill Creek or over the bridge to the airport we call (the Department of Transportation) because those are state highways,” Wild said.
About 4 inches of snowfall in all was recorded at the city wastewater treatment facility since Wednesday, an official there said, with 1.4 inches falling between 8 a.m. Sunday and 8 a.m. today. As of this morning 2 inches were on the ground.
In Juneau, National Weather Service meteorologist Brian Bezenek said that since temperatures have been above freezing here and snowfall is measured only once a day, it’s possible Sitka had even more snow but it melted before it was measured.
In an average November, he added, Sitka sees around an inch and a half of snow. All told, the wastewater treatment plant, where official weather data is recorded, has reported almost 6 inches of snow this month.
“It’s easy to get four times the average when the average is an inch,” Bezenek said.
The forecast is for cooler than normal temperatures around Sitka, combined with precipitation.
“I don’t know how much more (snow) you’re going to get,” Bezenek said. “For the next couple of weeks, our trend is for cooler than normal temperatures for Southeast Alaska and for near normal or above normal precip, which could mean, depending whether the temperature goes below freezing in the Sitka area, you get snow or that mix.”
The weather service forecast for Sitka this morning called for rain until Wednesday night when snow is predicted to return.
With more snow possible later this week, Wild recommended that drivers take precautions.
“We recommend studs and chains and use caution,” she said. “Make sure your headlights are on, give extra space between you and the vehicle in front of you.”
In a Facebook post Sunday, police advised drivers to avoid Sawmill Creek Road if possible.
“If you do not need to drive on Sawmill Creek Road, don’t,” the post said. “The road is glare ice and there are several vehicles in the ditch. DOT has been notified and will try and get the road sanded.”
