Winter Storm in Lower Yukon Valley, Alaska

Heavy snow, strong winds, and near blizzard conditions impacted the Lower Yukon Valley communities. Officials at the school in Russian Mission reported a storm total of 8 inches of new snow with significant drifting. In Anvik, visibility was one half mile or less at times with southeast wind gusts peaking at 50 mph on December 5th.

A very strong low pressure system moved north through the Bering Sea and across the Chukotsk Peninsula and Bering Strait December 4th through the 6th. The central pressure of the low dropped to 949 millibars as it moved across the eastern Chukotsk Peninsula the afternoon of December 5th and then weakened as it continued to track north into the Chukchi Sea. A strong weather front associated with this system swept across the West Coast, Interior, and the North Slope of Alaska. This resulted in heavy snow, strong winds, blizzard conditions, and minor coastal flooding at some locations along the Bering Sea coast.