A blizzard dumping inches of snow every hour in Juneau has closed the State of Alaska office buildings in the Capital City. Schools are closed for the day after lunch, according to the Juneau School District, which posted a note that says, “Due to increasing winds and blowing snow in much of the Juneau area, the district will be closing early.” Elementary schools will let out at 1 pm, middle schools at 1:30 pm, and high schools will release students at 2:15 pm.
The City and Borough of Juneau has also closed its offices for the day, including those in Douglas.
Due to high winds and low visibility, CBJ Downtown and Douglas offices and facilities will close at 11:00 a.m. today, Monday, November 20.
Affected facilities include City Hall, the Downtown Juneau Public Library, Juneau-Douglas City Museum, Treadwell Arena, the Permit Center, and Zach Gordon Youth Center.
Capital Transit is running on winter routes, with service suspended on Cordova Street, Franklin and Fourth Street downtown. For more information, visit juneaucapitaltransit.org.
It’s the first big major weather event of the winter season for Juneau, which could get up to 15 inches of snow today.
In addition to heavy snow and wind causing difficult travel, there’s an avalanche alert for the slide-prone Thane Road, issued by the Alaska Department of Transportation: :Strong winds combined with heavy snowfall at higher elevations will significantly increase the avalanche hazard above Thane Road the next few days.” The road may be closed on and off as the department tries to mitigate any avalanches.
Is there bad visibility in their offices and classrooms? Once evryone’s at work or school they should stay there for the day. This is Alaska for Gods sake. And besides, many parents can’t just rush home to greet their kids.
In Juneau most of us live uphill. Get home now, or likely not at all.
CBJ in particular doesn’t want the insurance liability of kids getting injured in preventable snow injury issues.
You make it sound like this is a regular occurrence. It’s not. Even holy Anchorage has trouble with up to 16 inches in less than 12 hours. Plus a strong risk of ice later.
If you work a job where on a rare day the bulk of the community is shutting down, they won’t let you go.. you either need to sort out your priorities or get a new job.
Exactly!
Once everybody is at work or a school, there is no good reason to quit early and go home. What irks me, too, is that these same state and borough employees will continue to draw their regular pay even if they don’t do any “remote work” after leaving early.
My tenant works from home and cares for two kids simultaneously. I doubt a full day of actual employment-related work gets done and that the state salary has never been docked. Have I mentioned recently that employees need to return to their offices and stop the sham that we know as “remote work”.
Jealousy is a sad thing. Envy worse.
Especially when it’s so covered in base willful ignorance of the situation.
Very petty and judgmental for an purported Christian.
We’re gonna have to get the howitzer out early.
A lovely Juneau tradition. We shell the crap out of the slopes of Mt Roberts to trigger small avalanches to forestall big ones.
Draws quite a crowd. I usually bring fried chicken and cold beer to watch.
Couple years ago we had an unexpected late season avalanche on Thane road. The road disappeared under about 40 ft of snow.
That snow went all the way into Gastineau. Once cleared, it took literal weeks for it all to melt away
How traumatic this must be for all the PC Juneauites …. all that whiteness ….
They tend to stay inside. Snowflakes don’t actually like snow all that much.
For me, it’s a blast. Winter is what I live for.
“Snowflakes don’t actually like snow all that much.”
That is ironic, as they are so so famous for (attempting) pulling snow jobs over others.
There has only been three-four inches of snow out and very little wind in “the valley” – either it’s significantly far worse downtown (possible) or there’s some “namby-pamby” going on (probable)
Guess it’s better safe than sorry but I only recall schools closing ‘maybe’ once a year and it would take significant snowfall, not just a chance that there ‘could be’…
I also recall (“back in the day” lol) having to drive in to work in the morning despite 10-14 inches falling overnight…not saying that it was fun but it wasn’t an insurmountable task for most – be prepared, leave earlier, drive slow & be careful.
That all said, I hope everyone stays safe and can find a way to stay warm!
You see! Government makes no money. It takes money. It don’t make any money of its own to contribute into the world economy. While government workers and those dependent on government money (health care workers for medicaid and Medicare, education workers) Juneau’s small businesses will be open and serving. If the business community took holidays shutting work production down the Stock markets will go crazy. More reason to recognize Alaska’s government and appropriations must be reduced.
Nothing more than feelings, fraulein. Shall we toss a magnificent bunch of man nip u lation in there with our sizable, mighty forearms too?
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