"Recently, Anchorage, Alaska's largest city with nearly 400,000 residents, has just recorded its snowiest January on record. Tucked in between the mighty Cook Inlet and pushed right up against the Chugach Mountains, Anchorage sits in prime location for some serious snow totals. Moisture from pacific storms builds up over the inlet, and thanks to orographic lift caused by the mountains, forces that moisture to drop over Anchorage. Thanks to Alaska's northernly location, that moisture often falls in the form of snow."
"The city received a whopping 39.7 inches of snow, nearly 4 feet of deep dense coastal powder. These totals eclipsed the previously set record in 2000 of 34.4 inches of snow. Brian Brettschneider, a climate researcher from National Weather Service, told "The amount of precipitation we've already received in January is what we typically get from January 1st through about May 10th, and there's been almost 10 years where we didn't even have this much precipitation all the way through the end of June.""
Alaska leads the nation in snowfall totals, and Anchorage's position between Cook Inlet and the Chugach Mountains intensifies snow via orographic lift. Pacific storms feed moisture over the inlet, and Alaska's northern latitude favors that moisture falling as snow. January 2026 delivered 39.7 inches to Anchorage, surpassing the 2000 January record of 34.4 inches. National Weather Service climate researcher Brian Brettschneider noted January precipitation equaled typical totals from January through about May 10, with nearly ten years lacking comparable amounts through the end of June. The storm produced urban impacts including 99 vehicles in distress and 12 injuries.
Read at SnowBrains
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