Wildfire — Matanuska Valley, Alaska

2023-06-04 to 2023-06-05 · Matanuska Valley, Alaska

Event narrative

Red Flag Warning (pre-greenup) criteria at the Palmer ASOS began at 2:15 pm AKST and continued through 6:00 pm AKST. Temperatues ranged from 72 to 74 Fahrenheit. Southeast winds ranged from 15 mph to 25 mph with a peak gust of 33 mph. Relative humidity ranged from 22% to 25% during this same time period.

Wider weather episode

While most of Southcentral had a very slow start to the fire season due to a persistent, abnormally cool and wet pattern, the Matanuska Valley and parts of the Copper River Basin became a locally drier and warmer spots by the beginning of June. Strong southeast flow and drying/warming off the terrain of the Chugach Range resulted in (pre-greenup) Red Flag conditions for several hours during the afternoon across portions of the Matanuska Valley and Copper River Basin on 6/5.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1105283. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.