'2022 came in like a lion, and heading out like a lion': Windstorms bookend the start and end of 2022

While reporting on the blizzard and high winds, people couldn’t help but note that 2022 was ending the same way it had come in-windy!

“2022 came in like a lion and is heading out like a lion. I think the lion ate the lamb…” said Emily Dinges, who posted a picture from a friend of a car they came upon, appearing caught in one of the many snow piles that plagued roads during the windstorm.

“They got out to check the vehicle, and promptly were buffeted off their feet while approaching. Vehicle had hazards blinking but nobody was in it,” she said.

While this latest windstorm packed a wallop, with gusts at times 50 to 60 miles per hour, even being clocked at 77mph at one point, knocking out power to nearly 20,000 and making many roads impassable, it fell short of the hurricane force winds of the January’s storm.

Back in January, wind gusts up to 91 mph damaged buildings, flipped airplanes and truck trailers, sent debris flying and left up to 22,000 households without power for long stretches of time with temperatures near zero.

During that storm, the borough opened emergency shelters on for people who might have been in danger from the frigid temperatures. Luckily, there were no reported or serious injuries tied to the January storm.

Similarly, this recent December windstorm has had no reported deaths or serious injury, as of this printing. Unlike the January storm, the Borough did not need to open emergency shelters, though Borough officials do examine the possibility, something that Borough Manager Mike Brown monitored, saying at the time that the prolonged period of dry conditions that the Borough is now experiencing would allow for more clean up.

“A break in precipitation will allow for road widening and general clean-up. We also encourage neighbors helping neighbors particularly for those that may not have the physical capacity to remove snow from their private property. I have heard a number of great examples of folks helping out one another in the past few days.”

Meanwhile, the City of Palmer did declare a disaster on December 23 because of the snow drifts blown around as a result of the heavy snow that fell recently in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough.

The declaration, signed by Palmer Mayor Steve Carrington and Manager John Moosey, requested assistance from Governor Mike Dunleavy and the National Guard.

According to the declaration, excessive sustained winds created snow drifting conditions, making numerous roads impassable and leaving dozens of vehicles stranded throughout Palmer.

“City crews are overwhelmed and unable to keep up with the drifting snow; and, the severity of the disaster exceeds the capability of local resources,” the declaration said.

The Matanuska Valley is not immune to winds. On any given day, Palmer, Chickaloon, or Butte can all feel

So, what about meteorologically? Were there similarities or differences between these wind events? Or was 2022 just an unfortunate year for wind in the Mat-Su Borough? We posed the questions to the Weather Department at Alaska’s News Source.

“The January windstorm was fueled by cold air settling into Southcentral. I do believe it was classified as a Bora wind even though it’s not in the Bora region. We also saw that with this most recent storm, however, a tightening pressure gradient amidst a ridge of high pressure was fueling the Matanuska Winds,” said Meteorologist Aaron Morrison.

“Both were multi-day events, but the January one had gusts over 60 mph in Palmer and Wasilla for 5 straight days, unlike this one which was 2 to 3 days (Friday into early Sunday). Aaron is correct in that the January 1-5 event was purely strong arctic high pressure (1040+ MB) building into Southcentral, and Christmas weekend was more of a battle of high pressure east of Fairbanks and low pressure over northeastern Gulf,” said fellow Meteorologist Joseph Bartosik, who also noted one glaring difference between the storms-the snow.

There had been a lot of snow on the ground, and clean up from those snow events was still in progress when Mother Nature decided to whip the winds into a frenzy.

“Yes, there was not much snow on the ground in January, which is why the Glenn only had near whiteout conditions in the first few hours whereas nearly all day on Friday.”

But if residents thought this holiday weekend would bring some rest from the shovel, plows, and snow blowers, well, maybe not so fast.

The National Weather Service has issued a special weather statement warning for the potential for strong low that could bring winds and wintry mix to the Southcentral this weekend.

“We are monitoring the potential for an impactful weather event to occur across Southcentral this weekend,” the statement reads. This front is slightly more confounding because, as the weather statement indicates, models have not been consistent with forecast details, especially beyond day 1, resulting in lower forecast confidence.

“However, all models are keying in on a strengthening area of low pressure that will move from the north Pacific into the western Gulf sometime late Saturday night into early Sunday…At this time, we are not certain about the exact timing, amount of precipitation, or which locations will see which types of precipitation. However, the front will begin to impact the southern Kenai Peninsula on late Saturday night into Sunday morning then affecting the Anchorage Bowl, Matanuska Valley, and southern Copper River Basin during the day Sunday.”

The best advice for now is to continue to track the forecast in the coming days. And hey, only 77 days until spring.