Waterspout spins over Turnagain Arm hours after heavy wet snow hits Eagle River

A waterspout spun over Turnagain Arm a couple of miles southwest of Potter Marsh for at least 10 minutes Tuesday evening, a National Weather Service employee reported just before 6 pm. The employee provided pictures, and radar showed rotation, according to the report.

It came hours after a storm dropped heavy, wet snow on the Anchorage Hillside and around Eagle River. Observers reported 5.8 inches 8 miles southeast of Eagle River, 4.5 inches just east of town and 5 inches at Glen Alps. A report 16 miles east of Chickaloon put the total at 6 inches.

West Anchorage got far less. The weather service office near Sand Lake measured 0.3 inch before the snow turned to rain between 8 and 9 am, and observers reported half an inch in Spenard and about an inch near Oceanview. Northwest of Palmer, an observer measured 2 inches.

The weather service had forecast 2 to 6 inches for Anchorage and the Lower Matanuska Valley Tuesday morning, and 6 to 12 inches on the Hillsides, mostly above 2,000 feet, Alaska News reported Monday. Forecasters expected the storm to total 10 to 24 inches across Hatcher Pass, where the state closed Archangel Road to vehicles for the winter Tuesday.