Blizzard in Eastern Beaufort Sea Coast, Alaska

The areas fourth blizzard in less than three weeks began to unfold during the late morning hours of March 20th. Winds at the Point Thomson AWOS (PAAD) topped 35 mph kicking up plenty of blowable snow and reducing the visibility to 1/4 mile. The winds would stay elevated at 35 mph with gusts to 45 mph for more than 15 hours along with visibility readings of 1/4 mile of less well into the nighttime hours. While the wind speeds remained elevated into the overnight hours, the visibility began to improve prior to dawn the next day.

Heading into the third weekend of March, yet another strong disturbance approached Alaska's Arctic coastline from the north. And as a result, blizzard conditions developed across portions of the NE Arctic coast for the forth time in a span of only 3 weeks. This time the swath of stronger westerly winds expanded to include areas from Deadhorse all the way east to Barter Island and beyond.