Juneau City and Borough officials warned Saturday that an unprecedented warm storm that raised freezing levels and produced heavy runoff has prompted an evacuation advisory for known avalanche slide paths and disrupted shelter operations across the municipality.

Ashley Heimbinger, communications and engagement director for the City and Borough of Juneau, opened the briefing and said the city issued an evacuation advisory "shortly before 11AM yesterday" for all known slide paths and is monitoring those paths as conditions evolve. She asked residents to report damage and impacts to the city's emergency reporting channel so response teams and state partners can reassess priorities.

The advisory followed a National Weather Service briefing in which Aaron Jacobs, senior service hydrologist and meteorologist, said an atmospheric river pushed freezing levels above about 3,000 feet and delivered roughly "1 to 2 inches" of liquid-equivalent precipitation in the Juneau area over 36 hours. Jacobs said the combination of deep snowpack and a rapid warm-up was historically unusual: "the amount of snowpack that we are seeing in the ground ... really hasn't been seen in the climate records," he said, adding forecasters are watching another system for midweek.

City officials described immediate response steps. Deputy City Manager Robert Barr said crews are prioritizing clearing storm drains and hydrants and have staged structural engineers to evaluate roofs. The American Red Cross shelter at Centennial Hall remained open; Barr said "47 people" stayed there overnight. Barr said the city moved a cold-weather shelter off Thane Road because the shelter location was in a slide path and not safe to operate until avalanche risk decreases. He added an online damage-reporting tool will be released soon and encouraged residents to document water intrusion and structural problems for insurance and potential disaster assistance.

Bartlett Regional Hospital CEO Joe Wanner said teams of contractors and staff were actively clearing snow from roofs, with "roughly 60 people up there right now clearing the roof," and that patient-care areas were being prioritized. He asked anyone needing hospital services to avoid parking close to buildings because crews are offloading snow onto adjacent areas.

State emergency operations staff said a FEMA public assistance declaration is active to reimburse local jurisdictions and nonprofits for emergency protective measures; Jeremy Zydick of the state operations center said the individual assistance program for residents "has not been activated" at this time.

What this means: officials urged residents to avoid avalanche zones, avoid climbing on roofs while melting and slippery conditions persist, and to report property damage using the city's emergency reporting channel so authorities can track impacts and coordinate potential aid. City and state teams said response priorities remain life safety and critical infrastructure.

The briefing closed with a request to call 911 for immediate emergencies and with officials saying they will provide updates if conditions change.