Wildfire — Copper River Basin, Alaska

2023-06-04 to 2023-06-05 · Copper River Basin, Alaska

Event narrative

Borderline Red Flag conditions at the Gulkana ASOS began at 2:53 pm AKST and continued through 6:00 pm AKST. Temperatures ranged from 70 to 72 Fahrenheit. South winds ranged from 10 to 17 mph with a peak gust of 24 mph. Relative humidity ranged from 18 to 22%. A few other nearby mesonet observations reported temperatures between 70 and 75 between 2:30 pm AKST and 7:30 pm AKST with winds around 15 mph and relative humidity values of 18 to 22%.

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 1105284. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.