Dry January

By Rick Thoman
Alaska Climate Specialist
Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Preparedness
International Arctic Research Center/University of Alaska Fairbanks

January was unusually dry in western Alaska. At the Nome Airport, precipitation was only one third of normal and the lowest January total since 2012. November and December snowfall was closer to normal but not excessive.
The result is a comparatively thin snowpack at the end of the month over most of the region. Based on the highest resolution climate analysis model, snowpack is in the “significantly below normal” category (relative to the 1991-2020 reference period) on the Seward Peninsula from Nome eastward. This also holds true for nearly all of the eastern Norton Sound coast and the Yukon delta region. Snowpack is in even worse shape for the Kotzebue area and over the central and eastern inland Seward Peninsula as well as in the Nulato Hills, where snow pack is “much below normal,” that is, in the lowest 10 percent of years 1991 to 2020.
For the Seward Peninsula west of Nome and on St. Lawrence, snowpack is analyzed as closer to normal for this point in the season. This analysis only refers to the amount of water estimated by the climate analysis model to be in the snow that's on the ground.
For overland travel, aspects of the snow like wind crusting and glaze from freezing drizzle are important. Of course, there is still plenty of time left in the snow accumulation season.
Historically, about 40 percent of the total season snowfall at Nome falls after the end of January. While last winter there was below normal snow February to May, several recent years have featured a lot of late winter and spring snow, including 2020, 2021 and 2024.