Coastal Flood — Eastern Norton Sound and Nulato Hills, Alaska

2024-10-20 to 2024-10-22 · Eastern Norton Sound and Nulato Hills, Alaska

Event narrative

Widespread coastal flooding was reported across the eastern Norton Sound coast as strong winds pushed water onshore. Officials from Elim reported that Moses Point Road had logs and debris and had to be cleared. The creek was also backed up and had to be cleared to let the creek drain. In Koyuk, ice piled up to 3 feet in some areas and some fish racks were bent. In Shaktoolik, officials reported a loss of an unknown amount of shoreline protection berm and power outages. In Unalakleet, the airport power had to be shut down due to the impact of waves on their system (7.5 feet). High water was reported on the backside of town, as well a lot of debris was reported on roads that had to be cleared. High water eroded the area used for airport snow removal as well. In St. Michael, officials reported a derelict barge broke free, floated by the storm with concern of impacting fuel tanks. Stebbins reported minor erosion and debris.

Wider weather episode

A major fall storm quickly pushed across northern Alaska between October 20th and 23rd, with the low itself moving all the way inland. The storm brought coastal flooding, high winds, heavy precipitation, and a mix of precipitation, including a rain-snow mix and freezing rain. Over higher elevations in the Brooks Range, snow amounts approached 2 feet, with 12 to 15 inches across the higher elevation Interior regions above 2000 feet. As the front pushed across the West Coast, south to southwest winds across coastal locations gusted to greater than 55 mph, with winds in excess of 65 mph occurring over the Bering and Chukchi coastal sites. These strong south to southwest winds pushes a surge of water all along the West Coast, with surge values of 4 to 10 feet above mean higher high water, highest near Kotzebue and in eastern Norton Sound, resulting in coastal flooding. A 12 to 15 mb gradient across the Alaska Range resulted in strong and gusty south winds through the Alaska Range passes with gusts to 65 mph.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1220721. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.