Blizzard in Bering Strait Coast, Alaska

Snow began along the Bering Strait Coast shortly after midnight on the 11th and picked up in intensity as the night wore on. By mid morning the visibility reported by the Brevig Mission AWOS (PFKT) had dropped to 1/4 mile with wind gusts exceeding 35 mph. Shortly after midday full on blizzard conditions were occurring with blowing snow and the visibility dropping further to near 1/10 mile. During this time frame a max wind gust of 51 mph was re corded. By late afternoon conditions began to improve a bit, but the visibility stayed well below one mile for several more hours as strong wind gusts in excess of 40 mph continued.

The second week of February saw the first of 3 back to back major winter storms move across Alaska's West Coast and Interior. The week began with abnormally cold readings across the all of Northern and Central Alaska. By Monday a very strong storm system entered the Bering Sea and proceeded to move northeastward across the West Coast and the Interior of Alaska over the next several days. Initially the storm brought heavy snow and strong winds from the Bering Strait coastline down to the Yukon Delta region which resulted in blizzard conditions. As the storm moved deeper into the Interior the storm produced heavy snowfall and occasional snow squalls.