Winter Storm — Copper River Basin, Alaska

2021-12-25 to 2021-12-27 · Copper River Basin, Alaska

Event narrative

Alaska 511 road reported icy glaze around 530 am the morning of the 26th of December on the Richardson Highway at mileposts 148 to 184. An employee with the department of Highways reported freezing rain from approximately 8:30-9:30 AM the morning of the 26th of December with temperatures hovering between 22 to 25 degrees. Another employee estimated 4 inches of snow at 10 degrees F in Slana around 1400 on the 26th. Slana DOT reported 6 to 8 inches of fine, light snow since last night (December 25th) with low visibilities. Tok Cutoff Highway Mileposts 18 to 92 reported difficult road conditions on the morning of the 27th of December around 6 am of 2 to 6 inches of blowing snow, deep snow, packed snow, ice, ice build-up, & rough icy patches. Richardson Highway mileposts 148 to 184 reported difficult road conditions on the 26th of December at around noontime with 1 to 5 inches of deep snow, ice glaze, icy patches, packed snow, plowed, rough surface, and reduced visibility due to resuspended snow dust.

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 1003704. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.