Winter Storm — City and Borough of Juneau, Alaska

2024-01-21 to 2024-01-24 · City and Borough of Juneau, Alaska

Event narrative

Dry snow began to add up quickly on Sunday the 21st with the NWS office in the Mendenhall Valley measuring over 6 inches by 3pm in the afternoon. Snow continued to fall with warning level rates over the next 2 and a half days, becoming wetter with time, and a short period of freezing rain before temperatures warmed above freezing on the morning of the 24th. The storm total at the Juneau NWS office was 30.9 inches, the Juneau airport had 34.5 inches (11 inches broke the daily record on the 22nd and 14.1 inches broke the daily record on the 23rd), and a COOP observer at Lena Point measured 40.9 inches.

The result was the 2nd multi-day event, each with approximately 3 feet of snowfall, in a week and substantial impacts across the Juneau area. Alaska Electric Light and Power reported a downed tree which took out a power line on the Mendenhall Peninsula. Juneau Harbors reported vessels sinking due to snow load followed by a change to rain, culminating in at least 5 boats sunk. A partial collapse of a warehouse on Channel Drive occurred due to snow load, and two residential porches collapsed in the Mendenhall Valley, with one family temporarily trapped in their home. Basin Road and Thane Road were both closed due to high avalanche danger, and two avalanches were observed on January 24 down the Behrend's Ave path and Basin Road.

Wider weather episode

A low slowly moving north through the Gulf brought an extended duration snow event to much of the panhandle. Snowfall rates increased across the central panhandle Sunday morning, causing the onset time of the event to begin earlier and resulting in a longer duration snowfall, but warning level rates were confined to the Icy Strait region with greatest amounts in the Juneau area. Dry snow became wetter through the event with southern areas transitioning to rain before seeing significant accumulations. When the change over to rain eventually happened for the Juneau area, larger impacts were seen.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1159094. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.