Climate Watch

Precipitation is one of the most basic elements of Earth’s climate. Whether rain or snow, it sculpts the environment and is a significant factor in shaping the land and nearshore ocean and influences the plants and animals that can live in any particular region. It turns out that Nome is about the wettest place (at low elevation) of any place in western Alaska. The highest yearly average total precipitation occurs on the south slopes of the Kigluaik and Bendeleben Mountains and is only slightly less along the coast from about Nome to Elim. This makes good climate sense: As storms and weather fronts in the Bering Sea approach, air blowing from any southerly direction —southeast through southwest— is forced to rise as it encounters the mountains, and this helps squeeze out moisture from in the form of precipitation. But because of the prevailing storm track, all other communities in the region have an average annual precipitation less than the amount that falls in the Nome to Elim coastal stretch. This is a direct result of the way the mountains are oriented because low level southeast to east winds — the typical wind direction during most heavy precipitation events— come down off higher terrain during most storms. Many Nomeites have first-hand experience of this out the Kougarok Road beyond Salmon Lake. As the road descends toward the Pilgrim River, there is often much less rain in the summer and autumn, a veritable rain shadow as the clouds lift and the road dries out. All of the eastern Norton Sound coast has the Nulato Hills to the east that results in less precipitation during many storms. That comes into play even in the area from Woolley Lagoon north to the Teller and Brevig Mission areas because of the higher terrain to the southeast. The mountains of western Alaska are not big and dramatic like the Chugach or Alaska Ranges, but they have a profound influence on the weather and climate of the region.