Winter Storm — Admiralty Island, Alaska

2026-01-04 to 2026-01-05 · Admiralty Island, Alaska

Event narrative

Start and end times are estimated based on surrounding observations and measurements from Kake, Hoonah, and Juneau since the Angoon Seaplane Base AWOS was down at the time. The Hidden Falls Hatchery COOP on Baranof Island, across Chatham Strait from Angoon (not in the same zone but another reference station), measured 12 inches of new snow at their 5pm report on the 5th. At 425pm on the 5th Angoon School District announced on social media that a delayed start was planned for the following day due to weather. At 908am on the 6th the decision was made to shift to remote learning due to hazardous icy road conditions.

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 1316095. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.