Winter Storm — Alaska Peninsula, Alaska

2021-11-27 to 2021-11-30 · Alaska Peninsula, Alaska

Event narrative

Cold Bay observations recorded gusty northwesterly winds around 35kts all night on the 29th of November into the 30th of November with visibility more often than not down around one half mile between 12-5 am on November 30th. Webcam images also showed very bad conditions in and around Cold Bay.

Wider weather episode

A rather stagnant was in place for the last couple days of November over the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands. Arctic air remained entrenched over the Bering including the Eastern Aleutians. This pattern would keep the Arctic air in place with the same northerly flow throughout this time frame. However, a storm system moved northward from the North Pacific met up with this Arctic air and resulted in hazardous weather conditions (snow and blowing snow/blizzard conditions) especially for the Eastern Aleutians. The effects didn't end here though as the system spread northeastward and impacted portions of Southcentral Alaska as well.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1001879. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.