The storm is the remnants of Hurricane Merbok, which University of Alaska Fairbanks climate expert Rick Thoman said is also affecting weather patterns away from Alaska — a rare late-summer storm now expected to bring rain this Weekend in drought affected areas. California. “All this warm air that has been carried north by this former hurricane is basically causing a chain reaction in the jet stream downstream from Alaska,” he said. “It’s a historic storm,” Thoman said of the system heading toward Alaska. “In 10 years, people will be referring to the September 2022 storm as the benchmark storm.” Hurricane-force winds were forecast in parts of the Bering Sea, while in the small communities of Elim and Koyuk, about 145 kilometers from the hub community of Nome, water levels could be up to five meters above the normal high tide line , according to the National Weather Service. Flood warnings were in effect until Monday for parts of northwest Alaska. A view from a webcam is shown in Nome, Alaska on Friday. (Nome Convention and Visitors Bureau/The Associated Press) In Nome, which has about 3,500 residents, Leon Boardway was working as usual Friday at the Nome Visitors Center, a half-block from the Bering Sea. “I just want to keep my door open and the kettle on,” she said after it had started to rain and the winds had started to pick up. But few people were passing by. Residents, visitors and businesses in the town, famous for the end of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race and the setting for the Bering Sea gold-dredging reality show, boarded up windows and otherwise braced for the storm. “The ocean is getting worse out there,” said Bordway, 71, as he checked the center’s webcam, which from his high perch has a good view of the swells. “I hope everyone stays calm and everyone is in a good, safe place,” he said. Typhoon Merbok formed further east in the Pacific Ocean than where such storms usually occur. Water temperatures are unusually warm this year, so the storm “was able to break through,” Thoman said.
