Fairbanks Snow Onslaught

Last month we were talking about record snowfall in Anchorage, and just a few weeks before that the focus was on extreme snowfall from Juneau northward in Southeast Alaska.  Attention now turns to Fairbanks, where there has been a remarkable onslaught of snow (for the interior) in the past two weeks: the NWS reports 37" in the two-week period.  Here's a season-to-date chart courtesy of xmACIS2:

The monthly snowfall of 38.5" in Fairbanks puts 2026 solidly into second place for the February total; the record is 43.1" in 1966.  The monthly total has also broken into the top 10 for all calendar months, which is remarkable given that early winter tends to be snowier than late winter.  If it were not for the snow deluge of December 2021 (50"), this would be the snowiest calendar month since 1993.

The 14-day snow total of 37.3" is competitive with the top 2-week total (38.9") from December 2021.  Prior to that, 2-week totals of over three feet occurred in January 1937, February 1966, Nov-Dec 1970, December 1984, and December 1990.  It's not a long list.

As for snow depth, the NWS reports 38 inches on the ground in Fairbanks, and that's the highest for a date in February since 1993.  (The snow pack reached 38-40" in early March 2022 and in April 2021, but no other winter since 1993 saw these snow depths.)

Here's the culprit: a strong mid-atmosphere ridge (high pressure) near the Aleutians in the past two weeks, producing a trajectory of moist air flow clockwise around its northern perimeter.

The mid-atmosphere winds originated far to the southwest and flowed into western and central Alaska without let or hindrance: a perfect recipe for persistently wet weather in the interior.

Another unusual aspect of the recent weather in Fairbanks has been the episodes of wind and blowing snow, both yesterday and last week.  I'll have more to say about that in my next post.