Winter Storm — Municipality of Skagway, Alaska

2023-03-01 to 2023-03-02 · Municipality of Skagway, Alaska

Event narrative

Snow began in Skagway around 7pm on February 28th and by 545am the next morning a report came in with about 6 inches in town and a strong south wind. The Klondike Highway report mentioned a minimum of 5 inches near the border with blowing and drifting snow. The highway was closed for a few hours that morning due to avalanche conditions on the Canadian side. The storm total in town was 10 inches as measured at the COOP station on the morning of the 2nd after snow had ended.

Wider weather episode

A strong low pressure developed over the northern Gulf of Alaska bringing significant moisture to Southeast Alaska. Cold air entrenched over the region at low levels ahead of the event allowed for significant snow to fall across the area in two major pulses. The first being along the warm front, with a period of blizzard conditions over Juneau, and the second pulse occurred as the cold front moved across the region.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1082361. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.