What a wild ride in Nome over the past 12-18 hours. Winds
calmed down with clear skies early in the night, causing it to drop to 2F right
before 06z but then a burst of northwesterly wind (max of 15 kt but counted as
day 6 since that was before midnight local time) led to a rapid rise to 23F by
06z! In the dark winter months, there's a huge temperature
contrast between the snow-covered land and Bering Sea, in addition to a sharp
inversion, so wind bursts or shifts lead to erratic jumps.There was also
a little snow with the wind burst, with 0.01” falling just after 06z. After
midnight local time, the max wind was 13 kt, at least so far. The clouds and
stiff wind prevented much cooling afterward for a while, but then it cleared
and wind calmed down, leading to a rapid cooldown to 0F by 19z, and then low-level
clouds came in and warmed it up to 10F by before 20z.
For
day 8, the ups and downs will likely not be as dizzying, but there will still
be a large, perhaps more gradual swing. Winds will be light with clear skies
from 06z to 15z, leading to good radiational cooling and temperatures likely
much colder than most models given the station’s history. After 15z, southerly
winds with associated strong warm advection will pick up and low to mid-level
clouds will increase, leading to a rapid warmup accompanied by some snow. The
winds will likely peak at the very end (Saturday 09z), with temperatures
leveling off near freezing (good model agreement on this) after 00z, heavily influenced by the near-freezing sea ice or pockets of open water in the Bering Sea.
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| Source: NWS |
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| Source: PivotalWeather |
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| Source: Meteogram Generator |