Winter Storm — Matanuska Valley, Alaska

2021-12-25 to 2021-12-27 · Matanuska Valley, Alaska

Event narrative

The office received reports on the Twitter social media platform for Meadow Lakes where two observations were posted. The first was approximately 0.185 inches of ice accumulation occurred since 8:30 in the morning on the 26th of December. The second one was approximately 1/8 inch of ice accumulation with continuous freezing drizzle all day. The ASOS station in Palmer (PAAQ) reported freezing rain or unknown precipitation (sleet) from approximately 16:45 to 19:26 PM. The 511 page reported very difficult roads due to black ice the morning of December 27th following the event.

Wider weather episode

Another winter storm moved northward through the Gulf of Alaska a few days after the previous one. As a result, much of Southern Alaska saw another myriad of winter precipitation types in the days leading up to the holiday.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1003702. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.