Day 7 of Nome, AK (PAOM)

 Temperatures continued to drop last night, dropping to 7F before it clouded up. A bit unexpectedly, winds switched to easterly and strengthened late in the morning (max of 13 kt so far), allowing it to warm up to 23F. Some unexpectedly heavy snow showers rolled through with precip of 0.19“ so far, so oops for those putting 0.00” betting on the scattered snow showers not hitting. Those snow showers were convective with +SN reported! There is a meso-low just to the south of Nome which is contributing to the persistent, unexpectedly heavy snow showers. Such small systems over the open ocean are poorly sampled and therefore not simulated well by models. Temperatures and wind could briefly spike when the snow stops and winds turn back to westerly this evening, before gradually dropping tonight as skies clear somewhat.

Spurts of westerly winds initially will prevent ideal radiational cooling tonight, but there could be briefly calmer conditions for better radiational cooling late tonight before clouds increase again. It will partly clear out again tomorrow night, which combined with a colder air mass, could yield to the low being at the end (Friday 06z). Winds could still be a bit too strong for ideal radiational cooling, but it is a close call and any brief wind weakening or shift to more northerly (cold air drainage from inland instead of moderating Bering Sea influence) would lead to quick temperature dips. The high temperature will occur early on with the brief spurts of westerly winds off the Bering Sea and during cloudy periods, when radiational cooling is prevented.

 

Source: College of DuPage

Source: PivotalWeather

 

Source: Meteogram Generator