Blizzard in Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska

The Toksok Bay AWOS recorded 1/4 mile visibility with falling/blowing snow from around 9 PM 1/2 to 1 AM AKST 1/3. The wind sensor at the observation site was down for the course of the event, but a nearby mesonet site at Chefornak consistently recorded winds around 35 to 45 mph during this timeframe. Webcam imagery along the coast helped verify conditions on the ground and showed extremely poor visibility along the Kuskokwim Delta Coast from the evening of 1/2 to early morning of 1/3.

Very strong offshore winds developed across the Southwest Coast ahead of a strong low pressure moving over the Bering Sea. Small amounts of falling snow were observed for this event, with the strong winds acting as the main contributor to lowered visibility in blowing snow. Numerous AWOS/ASOS and mesonet sites were not funtional during the event, but whiteout conditions were observed on several webcams along the Kuskokwim Delta Coast from the evening of 1/2 to the early morning of 1/3.