A Bering Sea storm that dumped snow on much of western and Interior Alaska Thursday weakened on Friday, with many warnings issued in connection with it ending or canceled.
The National Weather Service's Alaska headquarters showed winter storm warnings in effect until 6 p.m. Friday, in a smaller area roughly bounded by Nome, Kotzebue and McGrath. The upper Kobuk, Noatak and Koyukuk valleys were also covered by the warnings, which included up to 2 inches of snow and winds up to 30 mph.
Fairbanks-based NWS meteorologist Benjamin Bartos said his office had received reports of anywhere from 6 inches to a foot of snow in the hardest-hit communities, including St. Mary's and Scammon Bay.
"So far, that kind of southwest, lower Yukon River valley area seems to have picked up a good amount of snow yesterday," Bartos said. "It seems like most areas had about 8 inches, which is about what we expected."
No reports of major damage or effects had immediately reached the Fairbanks office, but Bartos said the State Emergency Operations Center had relayed a warning about the coming conditions to the villages Thursday.
"Any time people get a snowstorm like this, they have to stay confined in their villages," Bartos said. "It would have impeded small bush planes getting in and out of those areas, for sure."
Bartos said lingering effects from the storm included 35-knot winds near island communities in the Bering Sea such as Gambell.
Residents of the region shouldn't let their guard down, however. A second storm is expected to arrive off Western Alaska over the weekend, Bartos said, with alerts related to it likely being issued by Sunday night.
"Monday morning to afternoon, we'll get the brunt of it," Bartos said.