Flood — Copper River Basin, Alaska

2023-05-14 to 2023-05-18 · near Copper Center, Copper River Basin, Alaska

Event narrative

Department of Transportation reported rapid snowmelt is occurring, and is causing minor flooding with water over portions of the Old Edgerton Highway near the Richardson Highway.

Wider weather episode

An unusually cold spring kept snowpack intact and in place over the Copper River Basin into mid May. Once temperatures started to warm, they did so quickly and rapidly melted snowpack in the basin. An additional snow event later in May repeated the process creating multiple events where snowmelt would impact Glennallen and Old Edgerton Highway from Moose Creek snowmelt, and Gulkana and Sourdough areas along the Gulkana River.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (61.8297, -145.2349)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1104492. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.