Wildfire — Lower Kuskokwim Valley, Alaska

2022-06-28 to 2022-06-30 · Lower Kuskokwim Valley, Alaska

Event narrative

Red Flag Warning conditions were met for T/RH at STNA2/Stoney RAWS 2pm to 8pm 6/30. Winds did not hit technical criteria at this site, but winds across the zone for higher elevation sites were gusting in the 30 to 50 mph range nearly continuously for much of 6/30 afternoon and overnight.

(Example: Kilae Creek N18KX, elevation 1877 ft). Fire behavior was notably active on GOES/POES imagery during the afternoon and evening of 6/30 across both 163/153 zones.

Extremely dry fuel conditions prompted issuance despite explict Red Flag Warning

conditions not expected to be met. Strong southeasterlies with upper 70s temps had a significant impact to larger fires, with notably active fire activity and a very large, dense smoke plumes visible on POES/GOES imagery PM 6/30 over both 153/163 zones.

PANI- Aniak/PALG- Kalskag also ended up impacted by extremely dense smoke spreading NW off of the Lime Complex fires, with both sites falling to 1/4SM or less from around 8pm 6/30 to 2am 7/1. Dense Smoke Advisories were issued for zones 152- Lower Kuskokwim Valley/155- Kuskokwim Delta in accordance with the low visibility smoke observed by both AWOS/ASOS and obvious support from webcams

Notes from an IMET (on 7/2) for overall Hot, Dry, Windy conditions/fire reactions and 153/163 Red Flag Warnings: The first day we had the Red Flags out, the fires really responded and we definitely verified them from a fire perspective...If I were to redo yesterday, I probably would've kept the Red Flag for 163 but not 153 (the western fires did not see much activity. With the historically dry fuels we were worried about the winds even though we knew it wouldn't hit the Temp or RH criteria). But, hindsight is 20/20 and they appreciated the advance notice of this event, because as a whole the fires grew a lot. The Ops chief did mention seeing Red Flag level activity on the eastern fires yesterday though, so the 163 red flag warning certainly verified.

Wider weather episode

An upper level ridge set up over much of Southwest Alaska during this time frame. At the surface, a relatively tight pressure gradient resulted in gusty winds along with the hot and dry conditions.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1045268. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.