[JOKE_SNOW]

"This is an extremely dangerous and life-threatening storm which will be one of the worst on record over the Bering Sea and the west coast," NWS forecasters said in a bulletin Monday afternoon. The storm was about 600 miles southwest of Shemya in the far western Aleutian Islands on Monday afternoon and was expected to move over the Bering Sea toward Alaska's west coast on Tuesday.

Winds near hurricane force of 74 mph were expected to generate seas as high as 25 feet in the northern Bering Sea, forecasters said. The winds were expected to raise sea levels as much as 9 feet in the Norton Sound. Those levels combined with the high waves were expected to cause significant coastal erosion and major flooding. The winds may also push sea ice on shore, adding to the dangers, NWS forecasters said. Alaska's west coast could also see as much as 14 inches of snow in blizzard conditions, forecasters said. The storm was expected to last into Wednesday.

http://pafc.arh.noaa...AK52PAFC#AKZ195
.TUESDAY...RAIN AND SNOW IN THE MORNING...THEN RAIN IN THE
AFTERNOON. NO SNOW ACCUMULATION. HIGHS IN THE LOWER 40S. SOUTH WIND
20 TO 35 MPH INCREASING TO 45 TO 60 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 85 MPH IN THE
AFTERNOON.
.TUESDAY NIGHT...NUMEROUS RAIN SHOWERS. LOWS IN THE UPPER 30S.
SOUTHWEST WIND 45 TO 60 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 85 MPH DECREASING TO
30 TO 45 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 60 MPH AFTER MIDNIGHT.

http://pafc.arh.noaa...AK52PAFC#AKZ155
...BLIZZARD WATCH IN EFFECT FROM TUESDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH WEDNESDAY
MORNING...
.TUESDAY NIGHT...SNOW IN THE EVENING...THEN SNOW AND RAIN AFTER
MIDNIGHT. BLOWING SNOW. VISIBILITY ONE QUARTER MILE OR LESS AT TIMES
IN THE EVENING. SNOW ACCUMULATION 1 TO 3 INCHES. LOWS IN THE MID
20S TO MID 30S...WARMEST ALONG THE COAST. SOUTH WIND 40 TO 55 MPH.
GUSTS TO 85 MPH POSSIBLE...MAINLY ALONG THE COAST.
.WEDNESDAY...RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS LIKELY. HIGHS AROUND 40. SOUTH
WIND 20 TO 35 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 45 MPH. ALONG THE COAST...SOUTH 30
TO 45 MPH...GUSTS TO 70 MPH IN THE MORNING AND TO 60 MPH IN THE
AFTERNOON.

[Paul Domaille]

A bit more here http://www.msnbc.msn...633/ns/weather/ including a decent satellite pic. I am surprised though that they class this as a potential "worst recorded" case, I thought the Barents Sea regularly had some pretty extreme Wx....must have been watching to much "Deadliest Catch"
Cheers,
Paul D

[Chris Alder]

Paul Domaille, on 09 November 2011 - 14:45, said:

A bit more here http://www.msnbc.msn...633/ns/weather/ including a decent satellite pic. I am surprised though that they class this as a potential "worst recorded" case, I thought the Barents Sea regularly had some pretty extreme Wx....must have been watching to much "Deadliest Catch"
Cheers,
Paul D

Yes watching Deadliest Catch you certainly get to see some awful Wx conditions. Therefore I too am quite surprised by the stories around this storm - in fact I would have said it was almost an annual event.

[Andy Mayhew]

Storms like this don't normally move so far north - so some places may well see their worst storm in modern times. Gonna be quite a blizzard!

[Ian Williams]

Latest with video footage

http://www.examiner....1913-news-video

http://www.examiner....er-storm-videos

http://www.ouramazin...ite-image-2204/

[Ian Williams]

<a name="content">EXPERIMENTAL OFFSHORE WATERS FORECAST NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK 304 AM AKST WED NOV 9 2011 OFFSHORE WATERS FORECAST FOR THE US ARCTIC WATERS SEA FORECASTS REPRESENT AN AVERAGE OF THE HIGHEST ONE-THIRD OF THE COMBINED WIND WAVE AND SWELL HEIGHT. INDIVIDUAL WAVES MAY BE TWICE AS HIGH. PKZ599-100315- 304 AM AKST WED NOV 9 2011 .SYNOPSIS FOR ARCTIC WATERS... A VERY STRONG STORM WILL CONTINUE MOVING RAPIDLY NORTHEAST IN THE WESTERN BERING SEA THIS EVENING. THIS LOW HAS CURRENTLY BECOME A 945 MB LOW 100 NM WEST OF ST LAWRENCE ISLAND...THEN MOVE NORTH OVER FAR EASTERN RUSSIA BY WED MORNING AS A 952 MB LOW. $$ PKZ500-100315- WESTERN US ARCTIC OFFSHORE- 304 AM AKST WED NOV 9 2011 ...HEAVY FREEZING SPRAY WARNING IN EFFECT THROUGH EARLY THURSDAY MORNING... ...STORM WARNING IN EFFECT THROUGH EARLY THURSDAY MORNING... .TODAY...SE WINDS 45 KT...WITH GUSTS UP TO 60 KT. SEAS 22 FT. HEAVY FREEZING SPRAY. .TONIGHT...SE WINDS 50 KT. SEAS 21 FT. SNOW IN THE EVENING. HEAVY FREEZING SPRAY. .THU...E WINDS 40 KT. SEAS 14 FT. HEAVY FREEZING SPRAY. .THU NIGHT...E WINDS 30 KT. SEAS 13 FT. HEAVY FREEZING SPRAY. .FRI...E WINDS 30 KT. SEAS 13 FT. HEAVY FREEZING SPRAY. .SAT...NE WINDS 30 KT. SEAS 13 FT. .SUN...NE WINDS 25 KT. SEAS 10 FT. $$ PKZ505-100315-

[John Robert Mellor]

Chris Alder, on 09 November 2011 - 15:19, said:

Yes watching Deadliest Catch you certainly get to see some awful Wx conditions. Therefore I too am quite surprised by the stories around this storm - in fact I would have said it was almost an annual event.

Im not an angler /fisherman at all, but find Deadliest Catch a captivating watch, and yes tou do get a sense how rough it can be, and probably generally is, but as with all these type of programmes, probably some of the conditions although very rough compared to what we would see around the waters here in the UK, they are no doubt embellished by the footage and some of the narration. The phrase 'Arctic Hurricane' was used on several occasions in some of the earlier episodes of the season just finished. I think it just goes to show how 'out of the ordinary' this storm actually is

[Bazmundo]

AP video report of preparations ahead of this.

[Dave K]

Quote

Hurricane force gusts were observed at seven locations in Alaska:

Cape Lisburne... 81 mph at 7 am Wed
Gambell... ..... ... 74 mph at 6 pm Tue
Kotzebue... ..... ..74 mph at 6 am Wed
Point Hope... ... 78 mph at 5 am Wed
Savoonga... ... ..76 mph at 7 pm Tue
Tin City... ....... ..85 mph at 12 am Wed
Wales... ..... ... ..89 mph at 1:42 am Wed

http://www.wundergro...l?entrynum=1985