Highlights

The biggest weather story of the January concluded in February with the clearing of the Damalanche outside of Valdez on the 5th. Winds blowing dust and silt generated air quality warnings for Matanuska Valley on the 4th. Winds up to 73 mph were measured in Wasilla on the 7th. Also on the 7th red flag fire warnings were issued for the Matanuska Valley and western Kenai Peninsula due to high winds and low humidity. Further, on the 7th, three refuges in Matanuska-Susitna were closed to snow machines due to low snowpack. The high winds (up to 63 mph at Palmer airport) returned to the Mat-Su area on the 10th and spread a structure fire to the nearby trees and grass not covered by snow. No evacuations were necessary.

Blizzard warnings were published on the 6th for Western Prince William Sound. The Steese Highway was closed due to drifting snow on the 13th, while travel advisories were issued for portions of the Dalton and Elliot highways. This was repeated again for all three highways on the 16th. A nice snowfall in Anchorage around the 18th put a good blanket of snow on the ground Fur Rondy. Air quality alerts were put out for North Pole on the 22nd, and continued on and off through the rest of the month.