Winter Weather — Lower Kuskokwim Valley, Alaska

2023-11-24 · Lower Kuskokwim Valley, Alaska

Event narrative

The Sleetmute AWOS reported 0.04 inches of freezing rain from 3 to 7 am on November 24. A strong upper-level trough tracking northwest across Southwest Alaska produced widespread showers and warmed temperatures aloft above freezing. Prior to this, light showers produced only snow in the Lower Kuskokwim Valley east of Aniak. Temperatures remained 32 or below in Sleetmute for all of November 24.

Wider weather episode

After a stretch of very cold temperatures associated with Arctic high pressure, a much warmer and more active pattern took shape across Southcentral and Southwest Alaska as multiple low pressure and frontal systems rotated north around a broad, deep low centered over the Aleutian Islands. The deep southerly flow aloft transported much warmer air north with each system. Colder air was able to hold on at the surface over interior valleys and lower elevations even as warmer air above freezing streamed north and west a few thousand feet above sea level. This resulted in favorable conditions for freezing rain and drizzle, with multiple rounds of freezing rain causing difficult travel conditions between 11/21 and 11/24 before temperatures at ground level finally warmed above freezing for most of the southern Mainland.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1142698. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.