A powerful extratropical cyclone is expected to blast the western coast of Alaska starting Friday night — bringing potential perils from a storm surge that threatens to top out at 18 feet and gusts that will reach up to 90 mph.
The Associated Press is reporting that the storm is the remnants of what was Typhoon Merbok, which University of Alaska Fairbanks climate specialist Rick Thoman said is also influencing weather patterns far from Alaska.
“All this warm air that’s been brought north by this ex-typhoon is basically inducing a chain reaction in the jet stream downstream from Alaska,” he said. This includes a rare late-summer storm that is expected to bring rain this weekend to drought-stricken parts of California.
“It’s a historic-level storm,” Thoman said of the system steaming toward Alaska. “In 10 years, people will be referring to the September 2022 storm as a benchmark storm.”
“This storm is a dangerous storm that will produce widespread coastal flooding south of the Bering Strait with water levels above those seen in nearly 50 years,” the National Weather Service’s Fairbanks office wrote in its Friday morning forecast discussion.
The National Weather Service has issued several warnings to account for a multitude of hurricane-like threats, according to the Washington Post.
Much of Alaska’s west coast is already under warning and watches. All areas along the coastline from Quinhagak to Point Hope are under coastal flood and high wind warnings, while Cape Lisburne and northern coastal areas stretching to Teshekpuk Lake are under coastal flooding watches.
In Nome, water levels will be up to 11 feet above normal high tide and the city’s mayor said on Thursday that residents of Belmont Point should “prepare for possible evacuation.”
In Golovin, water levels could go up to 13 feet above normal. The National Weather Service’s Anchorage office said that the overall moisture content of the storm is “quite extreme” with enough moisture that equates to “200 to 300 percent of normal.”
