Heavy Snow — City of Hyder, Alaska

2026-01-05 to 2026-01-06 · City of Hyder, Alaska

Event narrative

Light snow was falling in Hyder during the morning of the 5th with drifting noted by a spotter at 8am. By late morning 2.5 inches had accumulated, then rates increased as indicated by the METAR in the neighboring town of Stewart B.C., dropping below a quarter mile for several hours in the afternoon. By 320pm AKST new snow accumulation in Hyder had reached over 6 inches in just the previous 4 hours. After heavy snow in December and this new accumulation, it was reported that a few sheds in town had their roof collapse due to the weight on the 5th. The same spotter measured 17 inches of total snow by 1015pm AKST that night. Light snow continued into the middle of the next day, but no new measurements were reported.

Wider weather episode

Temperatures cooled across SE Alaska along with outflow winds during the first couple days of January after December's big snow dump. This allowed the next system that moved in from the west on the 4th and 5th to start out as snow. Prefrontal snow showers during the evening of the 4th added to the storm total snow for parts of the northern and central panhandle, then the main system moved in overnight with heavy snow on Monday the 5th (set to be the first day back at school after Winter Break for most locations). The southern panhandle saw a change over to rain during the day on the 5th, then the rain/snow line pushed northward through the night and into the morning of the 6th. Some strong winds accompanied the front, starting out of the north then shifting to the south with the front and causing temperatures to rise.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1316038. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.