Weather service warns of possible heavy snow for Anchorage, Kenai Peninsula this weekend

The National Weather Service in Anchorage issued a winter storm watch Friday for Anchorage, Eagle River and much of the Kenai Peninsula. It warns that moderate to heavy snow is possible from Saturday afternoon through late Sunday night. The watch runs until 3 am Monday.

Forecasters said travel could be very difficult. The watch covers Anchorage and Eagle River at all elevations, East Turnagain Arm, the western Kenai Peninsula, the Southern Kenai Mountains, the Interior Kenai Peninsula and Turnagain Pass.

Portage could see 9 to 11 inches, with snow falling as fast as an inch an hour. Turnagain Pass to Moose Pass could get 7 to 11 inches. A forecast discussion put 6 to 12 inches in play from Girdwood and Portage to Primrose, with less for Whittier and Seward.

Anchorage, Eagle River and the western Kenai Peninsula could get 2 to 4 inches on the low end and 6 to 10 inches on the high end. Higher elevations could see up to a foot. Seward could get 1 to 6 inches. The Anchorage Hillside and Eagle River could see 1 to 5 inches Saturday night.

Forecasters said a snow band will set up and stall over Anchorage and the Kenai Peninsula from Saturday afternoon through Sunday, bringing rounds of moderate to heavy snow. Where exactly it settles is uncertain, which lowers confidence in snowfall totals. Warmer air is expected to move in from east to west Sunday afternoon and turn the snow to rain.

The Anchorage zone forecast calls for snow Saturday night and a chance of snow Sunday, with temperatures in the 20s and low 30s.

Anchorage had recorded no snow this month as of Nov. 10, against a normal of 3.4 inches for that point in November, according to the weather service's climate report.

Road conditions are posted at Alaska 511.