Winter Storm — Western Aleutians, Alaska

2023-02-13 to 2023-02-14 · Western Aleutians, Alaska

Event narrative

Shemya AWOS began to report blizzard to near blizzard conditions starting at 11 am 2/14 and lasted through 5 PM that afternoon. Peak wind gusts to 71 mph were observed with falling and blowing snow at 2 PM 2/14 during the peak of the event as the front approached from the southwest.

Wider weather episode

A series of very powerful lows and attendant fronts impacted nearly all of the Aleutians in one form or another, with additional impacts focused over the Pribilofs and portions of Southwest Alaska. The first in the series of lows/fronts came in with near Hurricane force sustained easterly winds to the central Aleutians, with temperatures both at the surface and aloft remaining cold enough to produce near blizzard conditions and 60 mph wind gusts near Adak and Atka on 2/13. The low's front continued to thunder north into the Pribilof Islands shortly after crossing the Aleutian Chain, producing many hours of blizzard conditions as it approached from the south.

There was little break from the first system before the next Hurricane force low moved south of the Kamchatka Peninsula and sent another intensely powerful front into the western Aleutians, where it produced whiteout conditions and wind gusts to 70 mph during the day on 2/14. This same front moved quickly northeast into the Pribilofs, resulting in another short round of blizzard conditions on 2/15.

Yet another frontal system made it into Southwest Alaska associated with a third Bering low, producing snow and blowing snow as it moved into the Kuskokwim Delta on 2/17. The weakening and departure of this system marked the start of a short break in the extremely active and progressive low track across the Bering region that dominated the pattern for much of February.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1104498. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.