Stormy Weather

As expected, the active weather pattern and strong west/southwest flow is producing a stormy end to climatological summer, with lots of rain and wind, for much of western and northern Alaska.  Here are rainfall totals reported from automated sites in the last 72 hours (click to enlarge, and ignore zero values which are mostly false):

The 3.39" of rain at Coldfoot is consistent with a substantial response in the local river gauge, which reached a record high level:

This gauge apparently has a decades-long period of record, so it's quite remarkable to see an all-time record crest.  The list of historic crests includes both spring meltout and late summer flood events:

River gauges in Fairbanks-land are high but don't yet indicate flooding, despite some impressive rain totals in the vicinity.  Here's a list of totals as of yesterday evening, courtesy of the NWS.

The Fairbanks airport's rainfall occurred mostly on Sunday, when the daily total of 1.30" was the highest in August since 1990.  It's also worth noting that the vigorous flow aloft produced strong winds in Fairbanks on Saturday afternoon, reaching 49mph at the airport and causing power outages.

Looking ahead, it's a bit disconcerting to see more of the same: the 15-day ECMWF precipitation forecasts are wetter now than they were a week ago for the same areas of the west and north.  Both models show another 6+ inches of rain across the southern slopes of the Brooks Range, as a powerful ridge redevelops near the northern Panhandle and keeps the flow locked in from the southwest across mainland Alaska.