Winter Storm — Inner Channels From Kupreanof Island To Etolin Island, Alaska

2018-02-22 to 2018-02-23 · Inner Channels From Kupreanof Island To Etolin Island, Alaska

Event narrative

Mitkof Highway got 5-6 inches of new snow overnight on 2/22. Impact was heavy wet snow removal.

Wider weather episode

A short wave upper trough moved over the Panhandle on the night of 2/22, and the associated front caused heavy snow for the Central Panhandle. Cold air in place closer to the coast mountains will resulted in heavy snow with a high water content. Most snow was 10 to 1 or less which made heavy snow removal the main impact.

Temperatures in Juneau warmed up into the mid 30s overnight on 2/22 causing Downtown, Lemon Creek, and the airport to change over to rain (with less then an inch of snow accumulation before that). Snow continued in the mendenhall valley but rates were low enough that only around an inch of accumulation was observed. For Petersburg and Wrnagell temperatures also warmed overnight 2/22 but more snow was observed before the change over especially at Petersburg. wildly varying snow amounts with less then 1 inch at Kake and Wrangell while 5 to 6 inches were observed at 9 mile on the Mitkof highway.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 738518. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.