Heavy Snow — Haines Borough and Klukwan, Alaska

2022-12-23 to 2022-12-24 · Haines Borough and Klukwan, Alaska

Event narrative

The COOP measurement from the city of Haines was 6 inches on the morning of the 24th. Another trained spotter from town also noted 6 inches had fallen since the previous evening while three other spotters closer to Lynn Canal had to estimate the snow at 4 to 6 inches due to persistent wind and blowing snow. They noted that light dry snow had fallen all day on the 23rd, but did not start accumulating until after 6pm and ended before sunrise.

Wider weather episode

After a six day Arctic air outflow event, a frontal band, the first of a series of systems, brought dry, fluffy, snow starting over the southern panhandle and spreading northward through the 23rd. E-ENE wind gusts of 25-40mph were widespread with reports of blowing and drifting snow. The second frontal band moved into the southern panhandle early on the 24th.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1072896. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.