Coastal Flood — Bristol Bay, Alaska

2023-11-14 to 2023-11-16 · Bristol Bay, Alaska

Event narrative

Dillingham police reported a surge well above normal high tide occurred on 11/15. They specifically mentioned that High winds brought flood waters at the Boat Harbor. Water pushed up into the coast, with some water pushing up and onto roads near the coast. No serious damage reported, however there was a significant ice shove with the coastal flood.

Wider weather episode

A strong low developed to the west of the Aleutian Chain late on the evening of November 13th and moved into the western Bering Sea, eventually moving east into the western coastline of Mainland Alaska by the afternoon of November 15th. Strong winds gusting as high as 77 mph affected portions of the central Aleutians as the low moved to the north while even stronger winds and seas up to 40 feet between the Pribilof Islands knocked buoy 46073 out of service at about 10 AM ASKT 11/15. Strong onshore winds developed behind the low's front as it moved onshore over Southwest Alaska, producing a storm surge and ice shove along the northern shoreline of the Bristol Bay coast during the morning of the 15th.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1142391. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.