Slippery roads and freezing rain brought much of the central Kenai Peninsula to a grinding halt Friday. Hazardous conditions closed schools, tribal facilities, city services and certain businesses among others.
At around 1:30 p.m. Friday, the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities’ live state road conditions map reported travel as ranging from “hazardous” on the eastern peninsula, to “difficult” on the central peninsula, to “very difficult” heading to the southern peninsula.
The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District announced Thursday evening it would close the district office and all 42 school sites due to poor conditions. All school district activities scheduled for Saturday are cancelled, too.
According to National Weather Service data, Thursday marked the first time in more than a month that the Kenai Municipal Airport recorded an average daily temperature above 30 degrees Fahrenheit. So far this month, Thursday was also when the warmest temperature was recorded, at 38 degrees. The lowest temperature recorded so far was -36 degrees on Jan. 8.
The transportation department also scheduled avalanche mitigation along parts of the Seward Highway for Friday, disrupting travel at Tern Lake, Whittier and Portage.
Colder temperatures were anticipated Saturday, when the National Weather Service is forecasting a high of 26 degrees with snow. Slightly warmer temperatures were forecast for Sunday, when there’s also a chance of freezing rain in the morning.
Strong winds are also sweeping through the central peninsula Friday. Around 2 p.m., Homer Electric Association reported more than 1,500 customers were without power across 16 outages from Sterling and Nikiski to Homer. The cooperative reported around 7:15 p.m. that power had been restored to all customers.
Up-to-date road conditions can be found on the transportation’s live map.
