More moderate weather forecasts for South Central Alaska

Updated: 46 Minutes ago Published: 47 Minutes ago

Temperatures are expected to be near or above freezing across south-central Alaska through midweek — slightly above average for this time of year and a sharp departure from the recent cold.

The higher temperatures expected through at least Wednesday were driven by warmer air from the Pacific Ocean and gradually longer days, said Alan Shriver, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Anchorage office.

“We're just getting to the point where the sun angle is high enough that we're starting to see a noticeable effect” on temperatures, especially during the mid-afternoon when cloud cover is lower, Shriver said.

The high temperature on Saturday in Anchorage on Saturday was 41 degrees.

Temperatures are expected to range from the mid-20s to mid-30s across much of the region, including Anchorage and Mat-Su. Shriver said the atmosphere is expected to calm down a bit towards the end of the week.

He added that no significant precipitation was expected this week, although less than an inch of rain and snow was expected Saturday night into Sunday in Anchorage.

When asked how rising temperatures would affect amounts of snow on roofs, which has been a major concern this winter amid record snowfall totals, Shriver said he expects to see some slight melting this week.

“I think what would probably happen is what we've seen with other previous warmups in the middle of winter where that might condense the snow a little bit, but it won't start to melt as much.”

Anchorage has gained about two hours of daylight since the winter solstice.

The somewhat unusually high temperatures represented a stark contrast to the long cold snap that lasted into late January and dropped daily temperatures in Anchorage below zero degrees Fahrenheit for several days.

This contrast makes the current weather appear particularly mild, Shriver said.

“Exposure to temperatures below 10 or 20 degrees below zero for a full week or so, and then warming up to the 30s — will have an impact in terms of how warm you feel,” he said.