High Wind — City and Borough of Wrangell, Alaska

2023-12-12 · City and Borough of Wrangell, Alaska

Event narrative

Report of a downed tree at approximately 130pm, in the power line at 5.5 mile Zimovia Highway and another tree town at 6.5 mile. Trained spotter also reported the outage. Winds on nearby Zarembo Island saw a peak gust of 68 mph at 255pm. A second power outage was reported at 320pm with a tree down across 8 mile Zimovia Highway.

Wider weather episode

A strong system comprised of two waves moving north, brought high winds across the panhandle. The second wave was stronger, and was responsible for the bulk of the high winds. Accumulating snow was also recorded in the northern panhandle. A long fetch of moisture accompanied this system and high astronomical tides during the period of high winds resulted in minor coastal flooding impacts.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1154206. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.