Coastal Flood — Southern Seward Peninsula Coast, Alaska

2024-10-21 to 2024-10-22 · Southern Seward Peninsula Coast, Alaska

Event narrative

Coastal flooding was reported along the southern Seward Peninsula coast as strong winds pushed water onshore. The City of Nome reported debris and erosion at mile 25 on the Nome Council Highway, the roads was rendered impassable at mile 24, and three sections required urgent attention, mile 16.5, mile 21 just past the bridge, and mile 24.5 at the breach. In Golovin, a spotter reported that the old airport runway was completely submerged.

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 1220722. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.