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The polls are still open in the Ski Town Throwdown contest between Eaglecrest and Crested Butte Mountain Resort.

Juneau’s small city-owned ski area has lagged behind the large Colorado resort most of the week, but you can vote once every 24 hours until 4 p.m. Alaska time on Friday.

The Powder Magazine contest started with 64 North American areas in four geographic regions.

Managing Editor John Davies describes the final round as a “dog fight.”

“Both Crested Butte and Eaglecrest have shown that they’re in this to win it,” he says. “My bet is that it’s going to come down to the wire.  I think we’re going to be glued to the Facebook ticker, watching the votes come in until late Friday night, when this thing ends.”

And that’s how you vote – on the Powder Magazine Facebook page.

Alaska Electric Light and Power crews worked nonstop from about 5 a.m. Wednesday until just after 4 o’ clock in the afternoon, responding to power outages due to heavy snow.

Spokeswoman Deb Driscoll says pretty much everywhere north of Auke Bay experienced isolated outages.

“So we had quite a few [outages], and we mobilized all of our crew and once we realized that the weather was continuing to get worse and that outages would most likely continue we also recruited the help of other electricians in town,” Driscoll said.

She says all power was restored by about 4 p.m. Wednesday. But she says it’s likely that pockets of Juneau will continue to experience isolated outages throughout the winter storm expected to last through Thursday afternoon.

She says customers who lose power should call AEL&P at 780-2222 during the day or 586-9765 after hours.

“Sometimes we say you can wait an hour before calling us. Or if they see that everyone’s out of power, sometimes we say we probably know about it,” Driscoll said. “But we want everyone to call, because it’s very likely in this type of weather that there’s just small pockets of outages, and that doesn’t show up in our system. We rely on our customers to notify us about that.”

Driscoll says AEL&P posts information about power outages on social media, including Facebook and Twitter.

Meanwhile, so much snow fell at Lena Point Wednesday that the Ted Stevens Marine Research Institute has closed for the day. About 65 personnel have gone home, according to Facilities Manager John Cooper.

“Since 6 o’clock we’ve gotten over a foot of snow and at times it was exceeding over an inch and hour,” Cooper said.

“So the road conditions getting out here were such that they were bad and getting worse and we made the call to send people home and I’ve got my crew out there cleaning up the parking lot again,” he said with a laugh.

Cooper says employees have been told to check their email regarding work on Thursday.

The University of Alaska Fairbanks Fisheries Center next door remained open Wednesday with a small staff. An employee says most of the scientists were out at a conference anyway.

While conditions out Glacier Highway were treacherous Wednesday, Juneau Police Lieutenant David Campbell says the roads weren’t much of an issue in town. But Campbell says he expects that to change when the temperature drops and everything starts to freeze.

A winter storm warning remains in effect for Juneau through 4 p.m. Thursday. According to the National Weather Service, 13 to 24 inches of snow fall is possible during the storm.

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to include additional information and comment from AEL&P

Updated | Dec. 12, 2013 – 6:17 a.m.

Both the Juneau school buses and Capital Transit buses are continuing to run on snow routes today.

Original Post | Dec. 11, 2013 – 7:15 a.m.

The National Weather Service is calling for heavy snow throughout the day and into tomorrow. The forecast predicts as much as two feet of snow might accumulate. The snow will be heavy and visibility will be limited.

Juneau School Buses

Juneau schools have shifted to winter bus routes for today. You can see those stops here.

Capital City Transit

Capital City Transit has also moved to winter routes, effective until midnight tonight.

Service will be discontinued on St. Ann’s Avenue, Cordova Street, Davis Avenue, Lemon Creek Road, and Franklin and Fourth Streets Downtown:

No service on Cordova Street.  Please wait for the bus at the Breeze Inn stop.
No service to St Ann’s.  Please wait for the bus at the Douglas Post Office stop.
No service on Franklin or 4^th street.  Please wait for the bus at the Main Street stop.
No service on Davis Avenue and Lemon Creek Road.  Please wait for the bus at Glacier Highway.

The snow storm is also causing power outages. According to AEL&P’s Twitter feed, the company is working to resolve power outages from Lena point out the road.

Heavy snow is causing us a bit of trouble. Crew has restored power to about 100 customers and are working hard to restore the remainder.

— AEL&P (@AELPJUNEAU) December 11, 2013

Russian tea cookies, white chocolate coconut clusters, and star-shaped butter cookies are just a small sampling of what was available Tuesday afternoon at the Governor’s Annual Christmas and Holiday Open House.

Doors to the Governor’s Mansion opened to the public at 3 o’clock, “and then they’re greeted to the governor, first lady, lieutenant governor,” explains Erika Fagerstrom, manager of the Governor’s Mansion. She’s been organizing the Governor’s Annual Christmas and Holiday Open House for eight years. This year, though, is a little more special than others.

“They started constructing the house May, 1912, and by December the family had already moved in and they had their very first open house New Year’s 1913, so this is the 100th open house,” Fagerstrom says.

After the greetings, guests walk into the dining room where there is a large table with trays and trays of cookies and fudge. For 4-year-old Ella Malaby, this is what she’s been waiting for.

“She loves it. That was her favorite part was seeing that whole table full of cookies and candy,” says Staci Malaby.

She brings her daughter to the governor’s open house every year. “She knows this house is the cookie house, not the Governor’s House, and she loves seeing the gingerbread houses and the train.”

Veronica Salter, 14, is with her classmates from Faith Community School. They’re performing songs from the musical “Christmas in Black & White.” Salter can’t remember a year she hasn’t been at the governor’s open house. “I like how everybody is really friendly and how people are singing also and they play beautiful music and I like meeting the governor, too. I got to shake his hand and say hello,” Salter says.

Roland Eim is from Germany and is visiting Juneau for the first time. He heard about the open house from his daughter who recently moved to town.

“We actually walked for about half a mile to come here and got very wet as you can see and I got a really nice conversation with the governor,” Eim says.

Eim says he’s surprised with the notion of a governor opening up his house to the public, “In Germany or like in France or like any other country, you’d likely have lots of police protecting the governor, so I think it’s a very awesome thing. It’s very close to the people and I appreciate that much, really.”

For Gov. Sean Parnell, continuing the open house tradition is important.

“It really says that our government, our house, the people’s house is accessible. And it’s our chance to be accessible in a pretty big way and for people to really enjoy the house that belongs to them,” Parnell says.

Along with continuing the tradition of the open house, the Parnell family will practice another tradition as they spend the holidays at home in Juneau – opening one gift on Christmas Eve.

A winter storm warning has been issued for Juneau through Thursday afternoon.  Forecasters say the strength of storm depends on an Arctic front in northern Lynn Canal.

National Weather Service Warning and Coordination Meteorologist Joel Curtis says the Klondike area could get clobbered and Juneau could even see a lot of snow.

“The National Weather Service issues a watch when the hazardous weather that we see is in the distance and we have some likelihood that it would happen, but we’re not dead certain on it,” Curtis says.  “Whereas when we issue a warning, and that’s a key word warning, we’re really certain that’s going to happen.” 

The weather service has issued the winter storm warning for Juneau, Hoonah, Gustavus and on out to Elfin Cove and Pelican.

Curtis says forecasters are closely watching that Arctic front.

“On one side of the line will be heavy snow and on the other side of it will be rain. And if we’re wrong by just a few miles it could be a heck of a difference,” he says.  

The winter storm warning is in effect until 4 p.m. Thursday, with a storm total of 13 to 24 inches.

Curtis says the snow is exactly what Eaglecrest needs to fill in the upper mountain.  The ski area was able to open only the beginners’ runs on Saturday.

Juneau’s ski area also needs votes in the final round of Powder Magazine‘s Ski Town Throwdown.  Eaglecrest is pitted against Crested Butte Mountain Resort in Colorado.  Voting is once every 24 hours through Friday.

Juneau’s water and sewer system will need a $72 million upgrade over the next decade.

A city and borough utility study indicates rates will have to increase and other sources will be required to generate enough revenue to cover system operating, maintenance and updates.

CBJ Public Works Director Kirk Duncan and a consultant explained future revenue requirements to the Juneau Assembly Monday.

“Our current rates allow for operational costs, but do not allow for system replacement and upgrades,” Duncan said.

Across the country, Duncan said, local governments review their utility rate structure every five or ten years. The last CBJ study was in 2003 and rates went up just after. But most utility infrastructure projects were funded from a variety of sources.

Consultant Karyn Johnson of FCS Group worked on the last Juneau water and sewer rate study.

“From a financial accounting reporting perspective, both the water and wastewater utilities are operating at a financial loss. That’s primarily due to the fact that the rate revenues are not set at a level high enough to cover the annual depreciation expense,” Johnson said.

She said industry standards recommend having on hand a minimum of 30 to 45 days operating and maintenance expenses and a reserve fund for emergency repairs. She said rates should cover depreciation.

Johnson described four revenue scenarios for both water and sewer; each one assumes a rate increase.

Duncan said other revenue sources would include a portion of the CBJ 1 percent sales tax, and $8 million from Juneau cruise ship passenger fees, known as the head tax.   That’s because the city provides water to cruise ships during the summer.

“To put things into perspective, we have 275 million dollars’ worth of water and wastewater assets.  We’re recommending a 72-million dollar system upgrade over the next years.  What that represents is 25 percent of the total system would be replaced in the next ten years,  indicating that all the components can last 40 years,” he said.

On Wednesday, Johnson and Duncan will explain the utility system needs to the public, at 7 p.m. in city hall Assembly chambers.

By February, they expect to know how those needs will impact residential and commercial rates.

Once the study is complete, the Assembly will decide how the system will be funded.

Click here to read the study.