Winter Storm — Eastern Baranof Island and Southern Admiralty Island, Alaska

2019-02-05 to 2019-02-06 · Eastern Baranof Island and Southern Admiralty Island, Alaska

Event narrative

Storm total snowfall 8 inches plus ice fog, glaze, and freezing rain. The impacts were slippery conditions and snow removal.

Wider weather episode

Southwest flow aloft brought relatively warm moist air over the Panhandle on the afternoon of 2/5. Cold air was trapped in many places with favorable conditions for first for freezing rain, then snow. On the night of 2/5, a cold front stalled along the outer coast for additional accumulation of new snowfall. Snow persisted, although light, into 2/7 and was truly a dump.

Freezing drizzle was observed at the beginning of the event, changing to snow by 2000. The Yakutat sounding showed a deep dry layer in the snow growth region. This region was saturated through the night with a change to snow. Juneau WFO began observing snow at 2200 on 2/5 with a glaze beforehand. The front then followed and precipitation ended from north to south. Although some areas including Ketchikan stayed snow far longer than originally forecast, likely due to light winds, heavier rates, and better forcing aloft.

The big impact was heavy snow removal. Storm totals ranged from 6 to 12 inches new snowfall from this storm.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 798617. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.