newsminer.com

Photo by Eric Engman

Photo by Eric Engman

Snow on the last day of April has placed 2008 in the record books as the fourth year since 1919 that measurable snow fell in Fairbanks on that day, according to the National Weather Service.

Forecaster Matthew Kidwell combed the archives and found that snow has fallen in the city or at the Fairbanks International Airport 35 times between April 30 and June 20, the last day of spring, in the last 104 years.

“It’s not very often,” the forecaster said.

The end-of-the-month snowfall also elevated April 2008 a few notches among the snowiest Aprils on record.

Before Wednesday, this year’s April sat at sixth place with 11.3 inches of snow. By 1 p.m., it had moved up to fourth place with 13.8 inches and was threatening to replace 1929 as the third-snowiest April on record.

Fourteen inches of the white stuff fell in April 1929, the year of the stock market collapse that caused the Great Depression.

Kidwell said snowfall this April was way above the average of 2.4 inches. The record snowfall for the month is 25.1 inches in 1948, the year that Arthur Miller wrote the play “Death of a Salesman.”

The snowstorm caused havoc for some morning commuters who slid off the roads and into ditches.

“When we get snow like this, our activity picks up for motor vehicle-related calls,” said Lt. Lonnie Piscoya of the Alaska State Troopers.

The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities issued a travel advisory for about 70 miles of the Dalton Highway due to snow and poor visibility.

Travelers between 28.8 Mile and 99.6 Mile of the haul road were asked to reduce speeds and to use tire chains on the hills.

The moisture is coming from the Gulf of Alaska, and Kidwell said it will continue in one form or another through the end of the week.

“For the next few days, we are going to be in the same pattern, but it looks like the air is warm enough that it will be light rain, if we do get any,” Kidwell said.