Winter Storm — Susitna Valley, Alaska

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

Event narrative

A trained spotter in Willow estimated around 14:30 on the 26th of December 1/16 inch to 1/8 inch on wind shields some time between 10:30AM - 1:00PM in town earlier that day. Spotter also reported intermittent freezing rain/snow and speculated that the precipitation type line was near where they lived about 14 mi up Willow Fishhook Rd.

Another spotter in Houston around 14:40 pm on the 26th of December reported freezing rain was occurring and had increased in intensity from freezing drizzle at approximately 10-11AM earlier that morning on the 26th. Spotter also reported icing on roof and windows. A CoCoRaHS member reported 0.6 inch of crusty snow and reported freezing rain mixed in at times into the remarks section. Social media report came in in on Facebook of freezing rain near Willow.

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 1003705. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.