Winter Storm — Glacier Bay, Alaska

2024-01-12 to 2024-01-13 · Glacier Bay, Alaska

Event narrative

Light snow began in the evening of the 12th with rates picking up after 930pm. The Gustavus DOT station foreman reported 6 inches of dry snow by 527am on the 13th and another trained spotter measured 6.5 inches by 951am. Snow became lighter through the 13th and didn't add up much more due to compression over the next 2 days. A short period of heavy wet snow was noted on the 15th when 2 inches fell before changing to rain. Over the MLK long weekend (3.5 days), a total of 7-11 inches fell across Gustavus, but most of that occurred by Saturday morning the 13th, as noted above.

Wider weather episode

Over an extended long weekend event, a prefrontal trough followed by a stronger main system with attached moisture plume, delivered first a wave of dry powdery snow with very high snow rations (40:1 to 50:1 in many places). The next wave/front of snow was wetter and difficult to shovel, with some places seeing a period of freezing drizzle in between the two waves. As the 2nd front tracked southward on the 16th, bringing snow to those areas and extending the duration of the event.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1160292. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.