Volatile in the North

First a follow-up note regarding the late January storm.  I was interested in whether the moisture content of the atmosphere reached record levels for January across southern Alaska; I thought it was quite possible based on the prodigious amounts of precipitation.

Looking at ERA5 reanalysis data, however, it's a null result: the precipitable water only set a new January record (1950-present) over a small area near the southern tip of Kodiak Island.  The January record for much of south-central, the southeastern interior, and also northwestern Alaska was set way back in 1963, and on the 16th of that month (Jan 1963) the statewide daily average precipitable water reached 12.4mm (0.49").  For reference, the recent storm's statewide average atmospheric moisture content peaked at 10.0mm.

On another topic, it's quite notable how volatile temperatures have been in northern Alaska in recent weeks.  Umiat has reached or exceeded 32°F on 4 separate occasions in the past 3 weeks, but has also been as cold as -48°F on the last day of January.  And check out the swings in daily maximum temperature at Utqiaġvik since about the 10th of January.

The chart doesn't show it, but the temperature has plummeted again in the last 36 hours: yesterday morning it was only just below freezing in Utqiaġvik, but this evening it's back down to -20°F.  High winds and blowing snow occurred earlier today.

This volatility reflects a profound clash of contrasting air masses: warm subtropical air has been drawn up from the subtropics repeatedly because of a ridge over the northeastern Pacific, but air temperatures aren't much higher than normal overall in the high Arctic.

In other news from Alaska's far north, there's been another subsurface cable break, apparently again caused by ice scouring on the ocean bed.  This happened only about 18 months ago in almost exactly the same location: see this blog post

https://ak-wx.blogspot.com/2023/09/subsea-cable-fixed.html

I find this rather fascinating, because I would certainly not have expected generally thinner and weaker sea ice (than in former decades) to cause severe ice scouring, exceeding the design expectations of the engineers.

Here are a couple of news links about the latest event:

https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/rural-alaska/2025/02/04/beaufort-sea-ice-snips-fiber-optic-cable-limiting-internet-for-some-20000-in-northwest-alaska-until-after-summer/

http://www.nomenugget.com/news/not-nome%E2%80%99s-first-rodeo-dealing-cut-fiber-optic-cable

Storm Notes

Rick Thoman posted a comprehensive write-up of the very warm and stormy weather this month, and I'll add some more notes below.  But first it's worth noting the dramatic change since the weekend: this morning's cold was impressive across the western and northwestern interior.  The temperature dropped below -50°F at quite a number of locations generally near the Koyukuk River valley, and even Selawik in the northwest reached -49°F.  Click to enlarge:

Looking back at the weekend warmth, Fairbanks was continuously above freezing from 7am on Friday through 8pm on Sunday, i.e. 61 hours, and this is certainly the longest such stretch recorded in January - only one other day (January 15, 1981) had a daily minimum temperature above freezing.  No such days have been recorded in February, and the only ones in December occurred during the great chinook/thaw of early December 1934.  The recent warmth can't quite compare to that historic event for overall warmth (highs in the 50s back then), but there are no other events in the depths of winter that have produced the duration of thaw seen in Fairbanks over the weekend.

The historic nature of the warmth was also illustrated by 43°F at Tanana, a new record for the month of January (120 years of data!), and 49°F at Tok.  The situation at Tok was truly record-shattering, with a low of 39°F on Sunday; this means the daily mean temperature was 44°F, a full 6°F warmer than any other day in December through February, with data back to the 1950s.

The sustained flow of moisture-laden air from the southwest produced prodigious precipitation in many places.  The map below shows estimated 7-day totals in terms of liquid equivalent.  The SNOTEL instrument at McGrath reported 3.8" of precipitation, which far exceeds the record for 3-day precipitation total in winter (2.10" in 1990, data back to 1939).  Near Talkeetna, 3-day totals of 4-5" were measured at relatively low elevation, and of course much more in the mountains.

Up on the southern slopes of the Brooks Range, snowfall was very heavy - in Wiseman, for example, where snow depth is just about at a record level for the time of year.

Here's a map of reported snow depth today, courtesy of the NWS:

One more aspect that I noticed: as cold moved into northwestern Alaska on Sunday, and Fairbanks remained in a thaw, the difference in daily mean temperature between Fairbanks and Kotzebue reached +46°F, and this is also a record for the time of year.  Typically of course Fairbanks is colder in January, and in the past such a large positive temperature difference has only occurred on rare occasions in late winter through spring.

We'll be able to do more analysis on the weekend's historical context when the ERA5 data is available in a couple more days (I'm particularly interested in the moisture content/precipitable water).

More Extremes

No time for details tonight, but a couple of quick notes regarding the ongoing extreme weather situation for Alaska.  First, it was southern Alaska's turn for high winds today: gusting over 60 mph in Anchorage and Palmer, 81 mph at Delta Junction (the highest in 25 years), and 90 mph out west (sustained at over 80 mph) at Cape Romanzof.

Regarding temperatures: Fairbanks spent its third straight day in the 30s Fahrenheit, and a quick look at the data suggests this is an unprecedented warm spell (at least since 1930) for the month of January.  The great thaw of early December 1934 was greater, and late February 1943 had 3 straight days with a mean temperature of 35°F or higher, but in January Fairbanks hasn't even had 2 straight days with a mean temperature of 35°F or higher.  There were only 6 individual such days from 1930 through 2024 - but Fairbanks has just seen three in a row (assuming the temperature doesn't drop off sharply before midnight tonight).

More commentary and wrap-up on this historic event in the coming days.

More Rain and Ice

The superlatives continue to be in demand when discussing the impacts of the "atmospheric river" that is affecting interior and southern Alaska.

First, to highlight the extraordinary strength of the winds across the North Slope yesterday, Rick Thoman notes that both the maximum sustained and peak gust wind speeds measured in Utqiaġvik were the highest on record:

In other news from yesterday, an avalanche closed the Parks Highway for about 24 hours near Cantwell:

https://alaskapublic.org/news/alaska-desk/2025-01-24/avalanche-blocks-parks-highway-near-cantwell

Today Fairbanks and Nenana saw another 10-12 hours of rainfall, although very light in Fairbanks, but farther to the west and north (Tanana, Fort Yukon) the temperature dropped enough for snow instead of rain.

To the southwest along the nearly stalled frontal boundary, prolonged freezing rain has been occurring; McGrath seems to have suffered a major ice storm.  A simple animation of photos from the McGrath FAA webcam shows trees and bushes becoming increasingly weighed down by ice today - look closely at the vegetation on the lower left (click to enlarge):

 

Remarkably, the storm total precipitation in McGrath has exceeded 2 inches, and it appears this will be the greatest 2 or 3-day precipitation total on record in the winter months for McGrath; the record 3-day total for December through February is 2.1" in December 1990.  Over in Talkeetna the 72-hour total of 3.38" appears to be second only to a December 1999 event (4.13" in 3 days).

This morning's 500mb chart (see below) shows the same powerful southwesterly flow over southwestern Alaska, and it illustrates clearly the deep southern origin of the warm, moist air.  The ridge anchored over the northeastern Pacific is really the key feature, and it's very reminiscent of events from 10-12 years ago, when the "ridiculously resilient ridge" set up shop in the same region.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ridiculously_Resilient_Ridge

Historic Winter Rain

Extraordinary and historic winter rain has been occurring today across a large swath of interior Alaska extending all the way up to the Yukon Flats and the southern edge of the Brooks Range.

This blog has documented many instances of winter rain in Fairbanks, but this is something else.  In data extending back to 1948 (albeit with one missing decade from 1964-1974), Fort Yukon has only reported plain rain (i.e. with a temperature above freezing) in November through February on two occasions, and that briefly: a single report of light rain and 33°F on January 22, 1962, and a report of light rain with 35°F on Christmas Eve, 1985.  But today it rained from 4:15am through 10:30am, and then it began again at 3pm; it's still ongoing as of 6pm, and the temperature has been as high as 39°F.

Rain has also been reported in Bettles, Fairbanks, Tanana, and of course points to the southwest, where the moisture is coming from.  The following map shows 12-hour precipitation totals (inches) as of 5:30pm, and it appears these represent mostly or entirely rain, at least at lower elevations.  Click to enlarge:

Two of the sites with higher totals are the Livengood (1.24") and Chalkyitsik (1.06") RAWS, and the hourly observations look very plausible:

Webcam images from Chalkyitsik show that it certainly wasn't snowing, and snow can be seen melting off a roof in the course of 3 hours (lower right, click to enlarge):

Incredibly, it was simply a rainy day across the central and northeastern interior.  And NWS Fairbanks expects it to continue; they say "an additional 0.5 inches is expected to fall through Sunday" (in Fairbanks).

What can explain such an amazing departure from normal?  Here are the 500mb and MSLP charts from 3am this morning:

These show a very pronounced pressure gradient and intense southwesterly flow between the deep trough over far eastern Russia and a powerful ridge over the northeastern Pacific.  Warmth and moisture have been transported quickly to interior Alaska from deep in the subtropics.  We also see that the flow aloft is oriented from southwest to northwest, rather than south to north, so the moisture makes it into the interior without hindrance from the southern coastal mountains and Alaska Range.

Winds across the North Slope have been extraordinary in their own right: here are the peak wind gusts in mph.

And maximum temperatures across the interior:

In the Fairbanks region, the international airport reached 42°F, Eielson reached 46°F, and Nenana saw 44°F.

For future reference, here are several surface observation maps showing snapshots of weather conditions throughout the day (two or three purple dots to the left of the station indicate rain):

Warm Weather Follow-Up

Following up on snow conditions in southwestern Alaska, there hasn't been any clear weather lately to reassess snow cover from satellite, but FAA webcam images now show very little snow for most or all low-elevation locations in the southwestern mainland to the south of the Yukon River.

Sparse or no snow extends at least as far north as Holy Cross and Crooked Creek; but Sleetmute still has snow cover, as does (much farther inland) McGrath:

The warmth in Bethel has been quite pervasive since early December, and the average temperature since December 1 is the sixth highest on record; 1979 holds the record.  2018 (second place) was quite a bit warmer than this winter so far.

The Kuskokwim 300 race has been postponed because of the poor trail conditions:

https://www.kyuk.org/kuskokwim-300/2025-01-17/postponed-kuskokwim-300-receives-support-from-mushers-vets-and-volunteers

However, the latest CPC forecast does suggest a change is on the way:

Also noteworthy is extreme warmth on the North Slope this week; early Sunday saw 41°F at Umiat, which ties the record for January.  Temperatures above +40°F were observed from Cape Lisburne in the far west to the easternmost extent of the North Slope - click to enlarge:

Where is all the cold air?  Down south is where: New Orleans had a foot of snow today.

Snow and Ice Update

Rick Thoman wrote about mid-January snow conditions at his site today, and I think it's worth amplifying some of the information here.  Snowpack is now very poor in western and southwestern Alaska, as there has been some very warm weather - notably so last weekend, but again today it is substantially above freezing over much of the southwest, with rain in some places.  The first map below is several days out of date, being based on ERA5 data, but it shows a more extensive area of very low snowpack than the map I posted on New Year's Eve (second map below):

The satellite image below, taken on Wednesday, shows that there is (or was) still snow on the ground across the Y-K Delta region, but it seems it's a minimal snowpack.  Click to enlarge:

On the plus side, it seems that there's been enough snow at elevation to improve the snowpack a bit in south-central Alaska, although it's still well below normal along the northern Gulf coast:

As for sea ice, the latest NWS analysis lines up nicely with the satellite image, with ice coverage extending just south of Nunivak Island.

The NSIDC analysis (showing regions of 15% sea ice concentration or more) is similar, and it reflects a modest deficit for the Bering Sea compared to the 1981-2010 normal.  Arctic-wide, sea ice extent is running very close to a record low, and it's notable that there are no areas with significantly above-normal ice for the time of year.