Up to 6 inches of snow and slushy roads forecast for Anchorage and Mat Valley Tuesday

The National Weather Service issued a winter weather advisory Monday evening for Anchorage, the Lower Matanuska Valley and Sutton, forecasting 2 to 6 inches of snow and slushy roads from 4 am to 1 pm Tuesday.

Snow should be heaviest from the lower Anchorage Hillside through East Anchorage and up the Glenn Highway corridor to Palmer and Sutton. Road surfaces are still in the upper 30s, but steady, moderate snow should still leave slush, especially on neighborhood roads. Visibility could fall to half a mile during the morning commute, the advisory warns. Drivers can check conditions at 511 or 511.alaska.gov.

A separate advisory covers the Anchorage and Eagle River Hillsides from 10 pm Monday through 10 pm Tuesday, calling for 6 to 12 inches, most of it above 2,000 feet.

Whether it falls as rain or snow is the hard part to call. Rain is expected to intensify overnight and turn to snow late Monday into early Tuesday as temperatures fall to near freezing, then shift back to rain by late morning in south and west Anchorage and by afternoon in the Matanuska Valley. Forecasters say that timing "will greatly impact total snow amounts."

Anchorage has logged just 0.1 inches of snow in October and since Sept. 1, below normals of 2.3 and 2.7 inches, according to the weather service's daily climate report.

This is the Anchorage zone's first winter weather advisory since early March. It comes about two and a half weeks earlier than last fall's first, issued Nov. 6, 2025.

Farther east, Eureka, Tahneta Pass and the western Copper Valley expect 6 to 12 inches of snow through 4 am Wednesday. Thompson Pass could get 10 to 16 more inches, and the northern Copper Valley 8 to 20 inches.

A stronger Gulf of Alaska low is forecast to move toward Prince William Sound Tuesday. If it tracks farther west, it could bring a second, bigger round of snow Tuesday night, with wet snow or a rain-and-snow mix near sea level.