WEATHER OR NOT?

The Manhattan nightmare is when the street salt melts and gets underground onto the wires.

1 Million Still in Dark After Destructive Weekend Storm

The struggle to clean up after a pre-Halloween nor’easter continued on Monday, with schools in many communities closed as utility crews tried to repair damage to electricity lines.

Many reports of tornadoes on the ground and warnings. New cell a little closer to Oklahoma City just popped and watching the one down by Lawton, those to the West are really bad and NW of OC

A rapidly intensifying storm was approaching the west coast of Alaska on Tuesday and could become "one of the worst on record" for the region, the National Weather Service said in an alert.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - An unusual Bering Sea storm packing hurricane-force winds and 35-foot waves — a type of storm not seen for decades in Alaska — moved rapidly Tuesday toward the western Alaska coastline.

The storm was traveling at 60 mph and had reached the western Aleutian Islands, said Andy Brown, lead forecaster for the National Weather Service in Anchorage. It could reach the beachfront city of Nome by late Tuesday, with winds hitting 85 mph.

The storm was expected to produce a 10-foot surge, forcing dozens of coastal communities to make emergency preparations. Brown advised Bering Sea mariners and people living in coastal communities from Wales to Unalakleet to "prepare for a really nasty storm."

"It is very dangerous," Brown said. "Everybody is spreading the word to let them know this is a major storm."

The storm, described by Brown as "big, deep, low," was taking an unusual path through the northern and eastern Bering Sea.

The windows were boarded up Tuesday morning at the Polar Cafe, a popular restaurant that faces the ocean in Nome. Items stored in the basement had been carried upstairs and were in one of the hotel rooms, said waitress Andrea Surina. Plans were being made to move the propane tanks to a safer spot, she said.

"It is blowing sideways snow. The water hasn't really come up much yet but it is starting to," Surina said.

The approaching storm, however, wasn't keeping the regulars away. They were sitting at their usual table, talking about the storm, she said.

"It is heading right for us," Surina said. "Nobody misses a good storm."

The last time forecasters saw something similar was in November 1974, when Nome also took the brunt of the storm. That surge measured more than 13 feet, pushing beach driftwood above the level of the previous storm of its type in 1913.

Winds from the current storm were expected to push large amounts of water into Norton Sound, raising sea levels 10 feet above normal through Wednesday.

That will cause beach erosion and flooding and may push Norton Bay ice on shore, forecasters said.

Seas were expected to begin rising along the coastline Tuesday afternoon and gain height rapidly at night before cresting in Nome on Wednesday.

"It will wash pretty far up the beach," said Ted Fathauer, lead forecaster for the National Weather Service in Fairbanks.

Some low-lying areas and a road that runs along the Nome beachfront could experience flooding, he said.

First responders and emergency managers in the communities likely to be affected by the storm were in contact with the State Emergency Coordination Center in Anchorage, which was working with federal and state agencies on storm response plans, said Jeremy Zidek, spokesman for the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

"They are aware of the situation and are taking steps in each of those communities to respond," he said.

Smaller communities that are vulnerable to storm erosion were of particular concern, especially the village of Kivalina, already one of the state's most threatened communities because of erosion.

Zidek said Kivalina has emergency operations plans in place.

Brown said the state emergency coordination center and the National Weather Service were in contact with emergency personnel in numerous communities. Another conference call was planned for Tuesday afternoon.

"Everybody is aware that the storm is coming," he said.

Alaskans know all about severe weather, but what could hit tonight and through Wednesday has the National Weather Service in full alert mode.

With blizzard warnings issued for an amazingly wide swath of Alaska’s western coast, officials are warning of major coastal flooding, heavy snowfall and winds up to 75 mph.

As forecasters wait to see if the storm continues to morph into one of the most severe Bering Sea storms on record, officials certainly haven’t downplayed the danger of the situation.

The combination of all the wind, snow and coastal flooding has the National Weather Service warning people that this could turn into a life-threatening situation. “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,” says the National Weather Service.

With a warning of hurricane-force winds in effect from the Chukchi Sea Coast south to the Kuskokwim Delta area, the wind could send swells as high as 25 feet in the Bering Sea, which has the potential to push sea ice onto shore.

While the marine warnings stretch across almost Alaska’s entire coastline, the expected blizzard conditions could drop well over a foot of snow in a hurry.

Posted at 12:12 PM ET, 11/09/2011
Alaska storm brings epic wind, waves, coastal flooding and snow

A storm of historic intensity continues to pound the west coast of Alaska today. Twice the size of Texas, the storm is as deep as a category 3 hurricane. The National Weather Service is calling it a “life-threatening epic storm” due to its dangerous combination of towering waves (observed at 40 feet in the Bering Sea), winds over 100 mph, storm surge flooding, and blinding snow.

The storm’s central pressure bottomed out at 943 mb this morning, comparable to the minimum pressure (942 mb) of hurricane Irene, which caused billions in damage along the East Coast in late August. From this point forward, the storm - essentially a snow hurricane (or snowicane) - is forecast to slowly weaken, but will continue battering the region into tonight.

At the moment, the storm is producing screaming 50 to 70 mph winds along the entire west coast of Alaska (according to a coastal flood warning posted by the NWS this morning).

The strong onshore winds are piling up the water along the coast. Severe coastal flooding is expected/ongoing with tides 8 to 10 feet above normal and 15 to 20 foot waves. The winds may also push ice in Norton Bay onshore.