Winter Storm — Lower Yukon Valley, Alaska

2008-03-29 to 2008-03-30 · Lower Yukon Valley, Alaska

Wider weather episode

A low pressure center along with a strong warm front moved north over southwest Alaska on the 30th, providing overrunning moisture for heavy snow, particularly against the southern Nulato Hills and other south and southeast facing slopes. Later on the 30th, warm enough air caused the snow to change to freezing rain in some locations, though amounts are unknown and likely below warning criteria.

Zone 214: Snowfall began on Saturday and continued into the night Saturday night. Low visibility at a number of stations in the area such as St. Mary's, Scammon Bay and Mountain Village, suggest heavy snowfall fell, as the temperatures remained below freezing through Saturday morning. Based on Bethel's snowfall of 10 inches for the event, it is likely a similar amount fell over portions of zone 214.

Zone 215: From observations of visibility, temperature, and precipitation amounts and occurrences from Russian Mission, Holy Cross, and Anvik, the region received long durations of snowfall, likely heavy snowfall in low visibility. Based on snowfall at McGrath (6.4 inches) and Bethel (10 inches), it is likely that 6 to 8 inches fell over the southern portion of this zone...including the southern Nulato Hills.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 79890. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.