Blizzard — Anchorage, Alaska

2024-11-13 to 2024-11-15 · Anchorage, Alaska

Event narrative

An AWOS site in Tununak recorded 1/4SM visibility in snow and blowing snow with northerly winds gusting between 40 and 55 mph between 9:45 AM AKST and 5:05 PM AKST 11/14/24. Area webcams along the Kuskokwim Delta Coast also showed very poor visibility in blowing snow during daylight hours on 11/14.

Wider weather episode

A strong low pressure system moving over the Bering Sea approached the Kuskokwim Delta Coast between November 13th and 14th. This caused strong offshore winds to develop as snowfall moved into the Kuskokwim Delta ahead of the low, leading to blizzard conditions developing along the coast on mainly 11/14.

The low also produced a very brief period of strong southwesterly winds gusting as high as 86 mph across the eastern Aleutians as the center passed to the north early on the morning of 11/14. The strongest gusts recorded near Unalaska were likely due to a combination of terrain funneling of southwesterly winds combined with pressure rises as the low was starting to pull to the north of the eastern Aleutians.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1226452. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.