| Observation Date |
Observation Time |
Precipitation |
Snowfall |
Snowfall SWE |
Snow Depth |
Snow SWE |
Notes |
| 10/1/2009 |
8:00 AM |
0.01 |
M |
M |
M |
M |
Wednesday was a dry and seasonable day with temperatures in the upper 40s around Valdez. Northerly winds were had at Thompson Pass during the day between 23 and 36 mph and sustained winds started to diminish a little bit by 1130pm but still had occasional gusts to 25 mph over night. Valdez felt the northeast winds a little bit off and on during the day Wed and were fighting the sea breeze too, but a few gusts to 15 mph between 5pm and midnight were from the easterly direction. The PAGK-PACV pressure differences were 5.2 mb at 11am, 4.7 mb at 12pm, 3.9 mb at 5pm, 2.5 mb at 11pm and stayed between 2 and 3 millibars overnight. The 998 mb surface low was east of Middleton Island and tracked towards Cape Suckling by Wed. afternoon. It helped churn up the seas there with the 46082 buoy reporting East wind gusts near 50 mph, 13 foot seas and heavy rainfall. There were comments from mariners in Valdez narrows and the Arm that the northerly winds were between 20-30 kts during the afternoon too! |
| 10/2/2009 |
8:00 AM |
0.00 |
0.0 |
M |
M |
M |
Thursday was a dry and seasonable day with temps in the lower 50s and the sea breeze kicked up by 11am out of the 240 degrees to 14 mph at the harbor. Clouds were on the increase over the Prince William sound through the day probably in response to a weak jet streak moving overhead…actually the radar had some echoes that developed over the arm and narrows but it seemed like nothing fell according to the Potato Point web cam. The 500mb ridge axis at 10am Thurs was over the eastern Bering sea south and east through the southern edge of the AK peninsula, then tracked east and amplified (the peak elongated further north into Alaska) and was over McGrath south and east to Homer and then south along 151 degrees west. Vort max tracked over the area overnight…Thompson Pass did feel some increase in the northerly winds by 10:30pm (North 15g18 mph) and peaked at 22 mph around 11pm. The PAGK/PACV press. Differences increased slightly from 2 to 3mb by 8pm and increased a little to 4 mb by 8am. The pass felt an increase in wind between 8-9am (North 20 mph). 850mb ridge was centered over Bristol Bay Thurs afternoon and shifted northeast over the Copper river basin by 4am Friday. A moderate occluded front was nearing the AK peninsula by Fri morning with southeast winds to 50 mph (Port Heiden) ahead of it. It passed through Saint Paul at 730am (SE to S shift). PASN had SE to 45 mph at 2am. St George it went through at 630am (SE to 47 mph at 4am). Temps around the region: City of Valdez 53/33, PAVD 54/34, PAWR 55/37, PAWD 55/36, Gulkana 45/19, PACV 53/28, PAYA 53/34 |
| 10/3/2009 |
8:00 AM |
0.04 |
M |
M |
M |
M |
Spectacular Fri. morning with clear skies, plenty of sunshine, and temperatures quickly warming to 50 degrees by noon. Cirrostratus came in by afternoon and altocumulus came in by late afternoon. There was an upper level trough that tracked over Valdez by 10 pm Fri evening…1st in the series of shortwave disturbances embedded in the jet stream aloft. This helped to strengthen the Chinooks across the Alaskan Range…Parks Highway at MP 244 rose from 20 degrees to 40 degrees with southerly winds to 57 mph at 11 pm (which incidentally was the 1st Chinook event over 50 mph there this fall). It’s interesting that the peak occurred during the time of the upper level shortwave trough passage. Gulkana got Chinooked by 10pm but the gusty southerlies to 33 mph didn’t arrive until 4am. Thompson pass felt an increase in the easterly winds by midnight between 14-20 mph. Valdez saw clearing of the skies from 10p to 12am then lower ceilings as nimbostratus came in by 6 am with rain showers. Occluded front positions: near Kodiak city at 3am, Kenai by 7am, Anchorage by 8am, central PWS by 10am Sat. TP cooled a degree with its passage. We were in the arctic air (850mb temps around -2 C) and TP saw a dusting of snow by 9am and started to stick to the roads by 11am Sat with temps at 32 degrees at the RWIS, 34 degrees at DOT camp. 3” of snow through noon. Models had us warming too much on Saturday with the occlusion passage and the arctic front seemed to be stationary across the northern Prince William sound Sat morning. Temperatures: City of Valdez 52/37, PAVD 52/39, Thompson Pass 39/31, PAGK 43/37, Cordova 52/36, Whittier 48/39, Seward 51/42, PAYA 53/35 |
| 10/4/2009 |
8:00 AM |
0.57 |
M |
M |
M |
M |
Rain started at 6am Saturday, intensified after 8am as the occluded front approached from the west and lessened in intensity by 2pm to light rain. When the occluded front passed through, the overcast deck lowered from 4500 ft to 3500 ft at the airport, then rose back to 5000 ft by 1pm. Temperatures generally stayed around 39 degrees all day most likely we were trapped in a pool of maritime arctic air. Winds at the harbor were generally from the easterly direction between 5-9 mph. It snowed 3 inches at Thompson Pass with some of that sticking to the roads by noon on Sat., enough that the DOT sanded and plowed a little bit. The temperatures at the DOT building were around 34 degrees, while the RWIS sensor on top of the rocks in the gap finally warmed to 33 degrees by 4pm…34 degrees by 9pm. East winds between 15 and 23 mph arrived at 4am, probably in response to the approaching weak low in the gulf south of Middleton Island. Snow levels were lower around 2200 ft based on observing what Sugarloaf mtn had by afternoon. The longwave trough axis is just west of the Eastern Aleutians, while the ridge line is over the Southeast panhandle south and west to the -145 degrees mark, while an anomalously cool upper level low is centered over Nevada.
Temps around the area: City of Valdez: 43/38, PAVD 39/39, Gulkana 48/33, Cordova 47/45, Whittier 43/43, Seward 50/43, PAYA 49/43, PANC 47/40
|
| 10/5/2009 |
8:00 AM |
0.74 |
M |
M |
M |
M |
Wet Sunday into Monday morning with nice subtropical moisture moving overhead thanks to a deep long wave trough whose southern edge touches the 25 degrees north latitude (near -170 west). The heavier rain developed by late afternoon on Sunday as one of the short waves embedded in the southwest flow aloft tracked toward the Kenai (with a SW 110-140 kt jet at around 30,000 feet, 50-70 kt SW jet at 18k ft), then the main upper level low that had been parked over Bristol Bay finally shoved off to the east centered over Kodiak by 10am Monday. The steady light rain shut off by 10am Mon in Valdez. Cordova received 1.00" from 8am to 8am Mon. There were areas of fog around Valdez that developed overnight. North winds to 10 mph developed at Thompson Pass by 4am and temperatures cooled to freezing by 6:30am and the rain mixed with snow, but didn’t stick to anything. The north gusts increased to 20 mph by 10 am Mon. (pressure difference 2.3 mb). Temps around the area: City of Valdez: 46/41, PAVD 43/39, Thompson Pass 37/32, Gulkana 47/38, Cordova 51/45, Whittier 46/43 Seward 48/43, PAYA 47/44, PANC 47/40
|
| 10/6/2009 |
8:00 AM |
0.06 |
0.0 |
M |
0.0 |
M |
Rain tapered to showers by late morning on Monday. There were intermittent brief showers through 3pm. Received only 0.06” at my rain gauge. There was stratus fractus around the mountains in the morning which became cumulus fractus by afternoon. The clearing was very defined with stars and moon visible at night. The remnants of the upper level low over Bristol Bay finally pushed across the PWS and winds shifted to the northwest between 10-18k ft by 4pm which aided the rapid clearing and felt the subsidence on the western half of the shortwave. Seward felt the gusty westerly winds to 24 mph by 2pm Thompson Pass (TP) saw a mixture of rain and snow in the morn., but didn’t stick to anything. North winds to 18 mph developed and tapered off by 2pm, but then redeveloped by 7pm to 26 mph and continued through the overnight maxing out to 29 mph at 643am. The observed pressure difference between PAGK/PACV rose to 2 mb at 7pm, 4.4 mb by midnight, 4.7 mb at 7am. Nabesna received 3 inches of snow and areas along the Glenn highway near Gunsight Mtn. received a few inches of wet snow that sticked to the highway. Portage Glacier developed quarter mile fog Tue. Morning…there was patched of fog around Port Valdez in the morning. I guess not enough northerly wind to help dry us out. We did experience our 3rd frost and this one was a little heavier than the others. The 500mb ridge axis was over Hooper Bay east and south to Kodiak Island at 10am Tues. Cirrus bands started to arrive in Valdez by 10am. A strong occluded front and 977mb low caused high winds in the Bering Sea, Eastern Aleutians to the AK peninsula…Dutch harbor gusted to 75 mph at 7am Tue. Temps around the area: City of Valdez: 48/29, PAVD 46/34, Thompson Pass 41/32, Gulkana 50/20, Cordova 51/29, Whittier 54/46, Seward 53/38, PAYA 51/38, PANC 48/31
|
| 10/7/2009 |
8:00 AM |
0.28 |
0.0 |
M |
0.0 |
M |
Tuesday was similar to Fri. Oct 2nd in that it was a clear and sunny start with temperatures rising into the lower to mid 50s. Increasing cirrostratus from the SW by afternoon. Rain showers began after 10 pm and continued into Wed morning. I received 0.28” at the house, 0.27” at the NWS office, Cordova received 0.44”
Thompson Pass experienced periods of snow and a rain/snow mixture overnight with temperatures at 32 degrees. 1” of snow was reported there. An occlusion moved through overnight that brought the precipitation. Easterly winds to 18 mph were had at the Pass overnight. Polar jet continues to bring north subtropical air and the 500mb ridge axis has parked itself over the south-central region from the western Copper river basin to the eastern Gulf of AK. Another occlusion was oriented SW to NE south of Sand Point to south of Middleton Island at 10am Wed.Temps around the area: City of Valdez 53/40, V harbor 50/41, PAVD 55/39, Valdez3 55/41, Thompson Pass 40/31, Gulkana 44/34, Cordova 56/42, Whittier 54/43, Seward 48/42, PAYA 54/42, PANC 46/41
|
| 10/8/2009 |
8:00 AM |
0.19 |
0.0 |
M |
0.0 |
M |
Continue to be in an “omega block” pattern where the upper level low is over 50N,-170W south of the Eastern Aleutians, upper level ridge is over the south-central region south and east to the eastern Gulf and a large upper level low or “arctic vortex” over Saskatchewan, Canada. Alaska gets warmed up and wet while Montana, WY and CO get anomalously cold and snowy. Also in this pattern it seems the northeast Prince William Sound doesn’t receive as heavy as rainfall as it could. The rain seemed to taper off by Wed afternoon and then get more intense by daybreak on Thu. The freezing level has risen significantly up to around 9500 ft based on this morning’s Anchorage weather balloon release and model temperatures! So this will definitely melt some of the 1-2 foot snow cover on the mtn. peaks. I received 0.19” while Valdez nws received 0.20”, Cordova 0.17”. Parks highway reported Chinook winds to 50 mph since 9pm Wed evening. Along the Turnagain Arm at Mc Hugh creek, winds have been SE to 65 mph overnight. City of Valdez 45/40, V harbor 43/42, PAVD 43/41, Valdez3 45/42, Thompson Pass 36/33 (rising overnight), Gulkana 41/33, Whittier 46/45, Seward 46/44, Cordova 48/44, PAYA 47/44 |
| 10/9/2009 |
8:00 AM |
0.06 |
0.0 |
M |
0.0 |
M |
The 500mb Upper level low has shifted NNW to the southcentral Bering Sea while the blocking ridge has shifted to the east a little bit and amplified further north to the Arctic Ocean. Its axis was over the Yukon flats south to the northeast gulf coast then along -140 W at 18z. The arctic vortex has tracked from Saskatchewan southeast to Manitoba pulling with it a strong arctic cold front which moved through Montana (12z sounding temp. at 850mb: Glasgow,MT was -13 C/8 deg F which is 4 degrees milder than the coldest observed northern hemisphere temp of -17 C at BGEM Greenland and 12 deg. milder than the coldest 850mb on the globe -25 C at 89664 McMurdo, Antarctica). Temperatures at 850mb here are around 4C (40F) while 1000/500 thicknesses reveal subtropical characteristics at 553 dm! The winds over the NE PWS at 850mb shifted to more of a southeast component overnight. This helped to improve ceilings over us as the winds are down-sloping a bit over the Chugach mountains to the southeast of Valdez. The NAM and GFS had a good handle on the winds shifting more SE, but had us getting rain which was bogus. Valdez airport had drizzle and fog (down to one half mile) from 5pm till 1030pm when ceilings rose to 3,000 feet from being at 100 ft. By 2am the ceilings had risen to 7,000 feet. Responding to a southeasterly 850mb 20-25 kt jet, Thompson Pass felt an increase in ESE winds to 21 mph between 7pm and 2am. 24 hr precip values were very similar 0.06” at my place, 0.06” at Valdez, 0.06” at Gulkana, 0.02” at Cordova, but Seward was in the rain with 0.50”. A 966 mb low is found south of the AK peninsula (48N, 157W at 10am Fri) with a strong occlusion wrapping around it and with a 70 kt (81 mph) 850mb jet associated with it. Temps: City of Valdez: 47/38, PAVD 46/43, V harbor 46/45, Valdez3 47/44, Thompson Pass 41/38, PAGK 44/37, Whittier 50/48 (E to 24 mph overnight with rain), Seward 50/47, Cordova 54/48 (rising temps overnight), PAYA 48/46, PANC 47/46
|
| 10/10/2009 |
8:00 AM |
0.01 |
0.0 |
M |
0.0 |
M |
500mb Upper level low has now shifted north to the central Bering sea around 58N 170W and the remnants of the strong occlusion yesterday has been yanked around it to far eastern Russia. The upper level ridge has shifted about a hundred miles to the east and has allowed the PWS to be in more of a stronger southerly flow and rain. The occluded front tracked north and east to the Kenai peninsula overnight and actually slowed down and weakened. It did cause easterly winds in the Portage valley to gust up to 69 mph and Whittier to 57 mph at the tunnel entrance. The Pfaff mine had a gust to 87 mph at 843pm Fri eve and Harding Glacier (4400 ft) felt gusts to 106 mph at 4am Sat. The Chinook winds across the area were strengthened as well…Parks Highway at McHugh creek had a south gust to 71 mph at 7am. East winds at Thompson pass increased by 7pm between 15-20 mph and peaked to 26 mph overnight. I only received 0.01” while Seward got 0.60” and Cordova was dry with record breaking warmth. Due to the fact that the occluded front was NW to SE oriented the northeast prince William sound experienced low level southeast winds that rain shadowed us from Fri into Sat morning. Still in the mild subtropical air (mostly above us) as 850mb temps were around 4 deg. C (thicknesses around 553 dm). The freezing levels are between 6-7k ft. A 150kt upper level jet can be found along 43N centered at the dateline…most likely will affect CA with heavy rains on Tuesday. This will help to force a piece of arctic air westward over the southeast panhandle on Tuesday the 13th and could be some record breaking temps there. City of Valdez: 51/44, PAVD 50/45, V harbor 50/45, Valdez3 51/45, Thompson Pass 43/40, Gulkana 57/44 (SE 10-22 mph overnight), Whittier 52/50 (east winds 20g47 mph), Seward 57/51 (south winds 30g40 mph), Cordova 57/53 (East 10mph), PAYA 51/45, PANC 52/47
|
| 10/11/2009 |
8:00 AM |
0.37 |
0.0 |
M |
0.0 |
M |
500mb upper level low now has tracked northwards to the northern Bering Sea. The ridge hasn’t moved much and is centered along 140W. There is a shortwave along 53N and 150W to 143W and it seems that this will help push some even milder air northwards (6 deg. C at 850mb). In fact it seems like the anomalously warm temperatures are just sitting over the state waiting for some peaks of sunshine to bring record warmth to the surface. McGrath rose to 67 degrees on Saturday which smashed their previous record of 55 degrees set back in 1979! On Oct 9th 2006 they were able to rise to 66 degrees! Kind of similar pattern back in 2006 except for the fact that the pineapple connection was in a north/south oriented manner towards the Kenai and Prince William sound in 2006. Back in Oct 9/10 of 2006 Valdez received 6 inches, Cordova had 8.93" while Kodiak only had 1.29"! Nome experienced its first ever October thunderstorm offshore Sat. Anchorage rose to 57 degrees, but its record high for the 10th was 62 deg set back in 1917. Valdez was on the eastern edge of the stalled occlusion over the PWS so we only received 0.37” compared with Seward (0.87”) and Cordova didn’t receive much at all (0.04”)…Yakutat was dry. Still in the modified subtropical air with 850mb temps around 4 deg C and thicknesses around 552 decameters. (We should be closer to 0 deg C and 540 dm this time of the year). Fog thickened overnight with periods of drizzle and light rain. There were patches of dense fog Sunday morning around the Port. Thompson Pass experienced a strengthened easterly wind between 9pm and 7am 22 mph with gusts to 29 mph and that was with a weak pressure gradient between -1 and -2 mb. The models did show a SSE 850mb jet up to 30 kt for the overnight. City of Valdez: PAVD 48/45, V harbor 48/45, Valdez3 50/46, Thompson Pass 44/40 (warmed up overnight) Gulkana 55/44 Whittier 50/50 (E to 28 mph), Seward 53/45, Cordova 54/51, PAYA 52/46, PANC 57/48
|
| 10/12/2009 |
8:00 AM |
0.15 |
0.0 |
M |
0.0 |
M |
500mb upper level low is now (Mon morning) centered over far eastern Russia with most of the southerly jet energy over the western AK coastline along 165W. The upper level ridge has been cut off and is centered over the ALCAN border (from arctic Canadian Maritimes to the northeast Gulf coast). Upper level low over BC with arctic air is poking into the southern edge of the southeast AK panhandle. 150kt polar jet along 40N (140W to dateline) is poised to bring remnant moisture and wind from typhoon Melor that hit Japan to California. Synoptic rainfall ended Sunday afternoon as the remnants of the occlusion and its upper level jet structure shifted west and north of the area. We had light southerly flow aloft and no short-waves to help mix and dry things up. Many places across the area received dense fog to 1/4 mile and areas of drizzle at Seward, Valdez, Thompson Pass, Gulkana, and Anchorage by Mon morning. Only received 0.15” in Valdez, but Seward stayed in the rain at 0.63” while Cordova was on the edge at 0.06” and Yakutat had zero. Freezing levels are still between 7-8k ft and still feeling the modified subtropical air over much of the state. City of Valdez: 51/45, PAVD 50/45, Valdez harbor 49/46, Valdez3 51/45, Thompson Pass 46/39, Gulkana 62/28, Whittier 52/46, Seward 50/45, Cordova 53/44, PAYA 52/42 (1/2 fog), PANC 51/42, Delta Jct 50/38
|
| 10/13/2009 |
8:00 AM |
0.04 |
0.0 |
M |
0.0 |
M |
Seems the fog got burned off yesterday, but turned into 2-3 thousand ft stratocumulus that never left overnight. In fact at night some stratus formed with drizzle and patches of fog. The strat deck never dissipated on Tuesday morning around Valdez but the northerly winds to 25 mph at Thompson pass helped to clear things out there . Valdez got a record high of 55 degrees on Monday. From the drizzle yesterday morning we received 0.02" and overnight received 0.02" more. Interesting to see 552 thickness air over us, while the southeast panhandle has 522 thickness (arctic air) over them. In fact a few places like Ketchikan and Annette Island received record lows there and they have records going back to the late 1800s! |
| 10/14/2009 |
8:00 AM |
T |
0.0 |
M |
0.0 |
M |
Stratocumulus deck 2-4k ft hung around Valdez to Keystone canyon much of Tuesday afternoon. It rose a little bit in the evening and then some stratus developed overnight. Fog developed over the port Wed morning. Mostly sunny conditions on Thompson Pass with temperatures getting up to above normal readings (near 50 degrees)with light winds on Tuesday. I went hiking and it was spectacular and most of the mountain peaks had only patches of snow on them. Overnight the northerly winds developed on the pass to 30 mph by Wed morning with pressure differences between 4-5 mb. |
| 10/15/2009 |
8:00 AM |
0.01 |
0.0 |
M |
0.0 |
M |
Beautiful clear day on Wednesday with temps near 50 in Valdez although there was a dense fog bank sitting over the central port in the afternoon. Dense fog developed by midnight with visibilities less than 1/4 mile. We received over 0.01" of liquid overnight due to moderate drizzle. The fog ended right around 12 mile where temperatures were around 29 degrees. Thompson Pass Thu morning was clear with easterly winds. Moderate low pressure was south and west of the SE AK panhandle with 2 or 3 occlusions wrapping around it. I think with it tracking north, the PWS ridge was able to form a little bit and we experienced a frontal passage of sorts with weak southerly flow that cooled the 850mb temps from 4 C Wed eve to -2 C Thu morning. Also the thicknesses cooled from around 551 to 542. This could also explain the moderate drizzle that developed...the southerly winds were bringing in maritime pacific air ladened with moisture. Rex block pattern on Wed seems to be weakening with the upper level ridge over ALCAN and the upper low in the Gulf. There is an arctic low poised to sink into NW Alaska, while another huge upper level low is rotating around over the Kamchatka peninsula. The polar jet is well south of us and pointed at Vancouver Island providing lots of moisture feed there. A decent 20-30 kt flow over the AK peninsula at 850mb. This correlates well with ship reports of gusts to 40 kts through bays and passes |
| 10/16/2009 |
8:00 AM |
T |
0.0 |
M |
0.0 |
M |
Dense fog around Port Valdez on Thursday morning with areas of drizzle. The fog dissipated somewhat for a partly to mostly cloudy day. Temperatures around normal for this time of year, highs in the mid 40s and lows in the lower to mid 30s. Thompson pass developed north winds between 20-25 mph by midnight as the pressure gradient increased between 4-5 mb as the 990 mb low in the eastern gulf tracked northwards towards the northeast gulf coast and south of PWS by Friday morning. A weak frontal boundary went through after midnight (probably the 1st occlusion from the low) and helped to mix things up a bit in Valdez to push the fog back to just over the water. Upper level ridge over the northern Bering Sea while a tight upper level arctic low spins towards the Arctic coast. Freezing level on Anchorage sounding was around 3800 feet Friday morning...535.2 dm thickness, -1.5 C 850mb temp, 0.43" precipitable water. |
| 10/17/2009 |
8:00 AM |
0.05 |
0.0 |
M |
0.0 |
M |
Upper level vort. max tracked northwest over the PWS during the evening hours (per satellite loop). Remnants of the 990 mb low was located just south of Cape Suckling after midnight. Lowest pressure in Valdez was at 2:30pm at 29.30” (~992.2 mb mslp) then pressures started to rapidly rise after 5pm to 29.50” (999.0 mb mslp). Interesting to note that even with the observed pressure gradient around +3 mb the northeast winds didn’t start until after 5pm on Friday at the harbor. The models did have a weak northerly 10-15 kt jet at 850mb between 4pm Fri to 10am Sat. The NE winds at the harbor gusted up to 22 mph around 8pm. Sea surface temperatures are around 51 degrees while the air temperature in the evening were in the lower to mid 40s. So the northerly winds aloft were able to accentuate the land breeze probably especially with the clearing skies. Showers were able to make it to Valdez eventually by 7am Sat morning. The low had barely moved northwest Sat morning and Cordova had moderate rainfall from 5 to 9 am Sat. City of Valdez: 49/38, Valdez harbor 48/40, PAVD 50/37, Valdez3 48/39, Thompson Pass 36/29, Gulkana 40/24, Whittier 52/39, Seward 46/37, Cordova 48/40, PAYA 48/45, PANC 45/34, Delta Jct. 34/26
|
| 10/18/2009 |
8:00 AM |
0.15 |
0.0 |
M |
0.0 |
M |
The tiny 500mb upper level low sat over Montague Island from 4am through late morning Sat keeping southerly flow over PWS and allowing the moisture convergence over the eastern sound and Valdez. A weak mesoscale low under this diverging air aloft was near Cape Suckling at 6am Sat then tracked ever so slowly to Hinchinbrook Island by midnight. The models did not forecast this at all and it had much of the energy dissipating and moving inland. With the cooler temperatures and a steady stream of moisture most of the night, Thompson Pass was able to squeeze out 6” of snow (temps hovering around 29 degrees)…with the rwis reporting northerly winds 20 gust to 30 mph. Another weak mesoscale low tracked just south of Cape Suckling around daybreak Sunday, but didn’t bring any moisture northwards. It just tracked west towards PAMD, but it did help to kick up the winds at the pass (North 23g31 mph). Skies cleared out Sat night. With the main jet well to the south and zonal along 40 degrees north, systems just meander around the north gulf coast. Many places across the southcentral region are running slightly above normal probably due to the lack of snow cover and not too many intrusions of arctic air. City of Valdez: 45/34, Valdez harbor 44/37, PAVD 45/34, Valdez3 /32, Thompson Pass 30/26, Gulkana 37/19, Whittier 43/39, Seward 46/31, Cordova 45/31, PAYA 45/42, PANC 44/28, Delta Jct 33/17
|
| 10/19/2009 |
8:00 AM |
0.00 |
0.0 |
M |
0.0 |
M |
We experienced benign weather with seasonable temperatures across the area. We regained snow cover above 2500 feet from the Friday night precipitation. From the estimated 0.60” of precipitation that Thompson Pass received Sat night into Sunday, there could be as much as a foot of new snow in the higher elevations. There are pockets of arctic air, especially across the Copper River basin and the North winds at the pass have been able to draw some of that colder air south. Valdez saw stratocumulus ceilings between 6,000 to 7,000 through this period. City of Valdez 45/31, Valdez harbor 45/41, PAVD 45/39, Valdez3 /32, Thompson Pass DOT 29/27, Gulkana 37/23, (Light snow overnight), Whittier 43/39, Seward 47/31, Cordova 49/33, PAYA 46/40, PANC 44/32, Delta Jct 30/15
|
| 10/20/2009 |
8:00 AM |
0.02 |
0.0 |
M |
0.0 |
M |
Mostly cloudy Monday into Tuesday although there were a few breaks of sunshine Monday. Ceilings were between 7-9k ft. The Chugach ridge developed later in the day in response to lowering heights aloft and allowed for an influx of moisture into the Port. Showers developed across the PWS by evening with a few showers moving through between 9-midnight…giving Valdez around 0.01”. Seems like the showers are moving SE to NW which probably means rain shadow for us. Thompson Pass received 0.5” of snowfall overnight from the showers and they have 3” of snow on the ground. City of Valdez 46/34, Valdez harbor 44/39, PAVD 45/36, Valdez3 45/35, Thompson Pass DOT 32/28, Gulkana 32/21, Whittier 45/43, Seward 48/37, Cordova 48/40, PAYA 48/31, PANC 45/32, Delta Jct 37/19
|
| 10/21/2009 |
8:00 AM |
0.00 |
0.0 |
M |
0.0 |
M |
Biggest story was the fact that we had the strongest pressure and temperature gradient draped over the area in a while…maybe since the spring. Gulkana/Cordova pressures differences maxed out at 8.7 millibars at midnight. Temperatures at Gulkana were sitting at 25 degrees at midnight while Valdez harbor was at 41 degrees, a 16 degree difference. A mid-level occlusion approached the area by 11pm and helped to strengthen the gradients. In fact the winds through Valdez narrows and Arm sped up after 8pm with gusts up to 36 mph out of the north. The winds around Valdez increased by 7pm with gusts to 25 mph by 6am Wed. Thompson Pass developed northerly winds that potentially could have gusted up to 40 mph (rwis sensor has been down). At any rate the DOT building reported 31 degrees at 12:30 pm then cooled to 22 degrees by midnight. This is most likely arctic air that finally made it through the pass being sucked through from the Copper River basin. Still have an arctic low spinning around over the western Brooks range, a broad upper level low over the Gulf, a large upper level ridge over far eastern Russia and the jet stream is still primarily along 40N from Japan to about 160W. City of Valdez 45/34, Valdez harbor 44/41, PAVD 45/36, Valdez3 44/, Thompson Pass DOT 31/21, Gulkana 30/23, Whittier 48/37, Seward 49/45, Cordova 50/31, PAYA 52/42 PANC 42/37, Delta Jct 23/21 |