State of the Ice at Season’s Start

Contributed by Matthew Druckenmiller (National Snow and Ice Data Center and SEARCH Sea Ice Action Team) & Hajo Eicken (University of Alaska Fairbanks)

This past winter in the northern Bering Sea region, as well as across Alaska, was dominated by very cold temperatures. This cold period began in mid-December 2019 and continued through mid-March 2020. Figure 1 shows these unusually cold temperatures...

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Special Statement from National Weather Service Alaska


National Weather Service SIWO forecast information is not available this week due to unforeseen circumstances. Please go to https://weather.gov/afg for your local NWS marine and public weather forecasts and https://weather.gov/ice for sea ice analysis and forecasts at this time. We hope to have NWS weather and ice forecast information available once again next week.

Sea ice maps are still available. The State of the Ice at Season's Start Report will be provided by Matthew Druckenmiller and Hajo Eicken in next week's report.

NWS 5-day Sea Ice Forecast
NWS 5-day Sea Ice Forecast
NWS Sea Ice Stage Analysis
NWS Sea Ice Stage Analysis

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This will be the last Outlook of the 2019 Season. Thanks to all local observers and partners for their contributions!


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Forecast Synopsis for 30 May – 3 June 2019

Synopsis A low pressure system will rotate near the Bristol Bay area through Friday while weak and broad low pressure remains over the mainland.

Near St. Lawrence Island

The closest sea ice is open water along the Russian coast...

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Forecast Synopsis for 23–27 May 2019

Synopsis High pressure will remain over much of the Bering and Chukchi through Friday. On Saturday a low pressure system will enter the eastern Bering Sea and remain through Monday.

Near St. Lawrence Island

There is an area of consolidated pack ice along the coast east of Savoonga that extends up to 0.25 nm from shore. The nearest sea ice to Gambell is open...

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Forecast Synopsis for 16–20 May 2019

Synopsis. Low pressure will remain over the Gulf of Alaska and mainland Alaska while high pressure remains over Siberia. The result is a long period of northerly flow at the surface.

Near St. Lawrence Island

There is an area of consolidated pack ice along the coast east of Savoonga that extends up to 0.75 nm from shore. Extending north from that pack ice to the...

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Forecast Synopsis for 9–13 May 2019

Synopsis. Low pressure will remain over the eastern Bering Sea through Saturday. On Sunday, another low pressure system will move northward from over the mainland. This low pressure system will move into the Bering and Chukchi seas on Monday.

Near St. Lawrence Island

Strips of sea ice extend from approximately 3 nm west of Gambell northwest to the Russian coast...

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Forecast Synopsis for 2–7 May 2019

Synopsis. Low pressure will persist across the southwest Bering Sea through Friday before dissipating. Another low will move northward through the eastern Bering Sea Wednesday through Saturday. Otherwise, high pressure will generally persist across the mainland.

Near St. Lawrence Island

Sea ice is generally open to very open pack ice consisting of ice cakes to...

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Forecast Synopsis for 25 – 29 April 2019

Synopsis. High pressure will generally persist across the Arctic as well as the Bering Sea through Thursday. Both highs will begin to move eastward Thursday, continuing through Saturday as several lows move northward into the western Bering Sea.

Near St. Lawrence Island

Northerly winds have continued to bring the main area of consolidated pack ice...

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Forecast Synopsis for 18 – 22 April 2019

Synopsis. High pressure will generally persist across the Arctic as well as the southwest Bering Sea, while low pressure remains over the Alaska mainland through Monday.

Near St. Lawrence Island

Northerly winds have continued to bring the main area of consolidated pack ice consisting of big to giant floes toward the coast. From Gambell south, some additional...

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Forecast Synopsis for 11 – 15 April 2019

Synopsis. A strong low pressure will continue to move into the Bering Sea from the north Pacific. That system will weaken and move into the Gulf of Alaska on Friday, while a new system will enter the Bering on Saturday.

Near St. Lawrence Island

Northerly winds have brought the main area of very close pack ice back to the coast. The pack ice is up against the...

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Forecast Synopsis for 4 April – 8 April 2019

Synopsis. High pressure will reside over the Arctic while low pressure remains in the North Pacific/Gulf of Alaska.

Near St. Lawrence Island

The main area of very close pack ice is between Gambell and Savoonga, extending up to 32nm from the coast. West of Gambell is close pack ice with small to big floes extending 15 to 20nm west of Gambell. East of...

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Forecast Synopsis for 28 March – 1 April 2019

Synopsis. High pressure will remain over much of mainland Alaska through Saturday. Low pressure near Kamchatka will keep much of the area under southerly flow.

Near St. Lawrence Island

Recent southerly flow has really changed the nature of ice around the island. Very little shorefast ice is left, mainly along the north side of the island, several pockets...

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State of the Ice at Season’s Start

Contributed by Matthew Druckenmiller (National Snow and Ice Data Center and SEARCH Sea Ice Action Team) & Hajo Eicken (University of Alaska Fairbanks)

As we entered 2019, few thought that the Bering Sea would see another winter like last year. But, this assessment did not hold for long. Between mid-January through early-March, the Bering Sea experienced an...

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Forecast Synopsis for 14–18 March 2019

Synopsis. Low pressure will remain over the eastern to northern Bering Sea through Monday with high pressure remaining over eastern Russia.

Near St. Lawrence Island

Compact to consolidated ice pack extends from the north coast of St. Lawrence Island generally to the Bering Strait. Close ice pack with medium to big floes extends from both the east and west...

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Near St. Lawrence Island

The waters surrounding St. Lawrence Island are sea ice free.

Nome

The waters around Nome are sea ice free. The 2018 SIWO season has ended for this area as of 10 May.

Wales to Shishmaref

There is a small area of ice approximately 11 nm...

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Near St. Lawrence Island

The waters surrounding St. Lawrence Island are sea ice free. There is some remaining open water--with ice concentration less than 1/10--approximately 40 to 50 nm northeast of Gambell.

Nome

The waters around Nome are sea ice free. The 2018 SIWO season has ended for this area as of 10 May.

[Wales](http://www.weather.gov/afg/SIWO...

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Near St. Lawrence Island

The waters surrounding St. Lawrence Island are sea ice free. There is some remaining close pack ice ranging from brash ice to big floes approximately 40 to 50 nm north of Gambell.

Nome

The waters around Nome are sea ice free. The 2018 SIWO season has ended for this area as of 10 May.

Wales...

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Near St. Lawrence Island

The only sea ice remaining around St. Lawrence Island is near Naskak Camp and along the coast near Camp Iveetok. Otherwise, waters to 30 nm away from the island are sea ice free. This will be the last update for the 2018 SIWO season for this area.

Nome

The only sea ice remaining near Nome is very open pack ice with brash ice 20 nm west...

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Near St. Lawrence Island

Big to giant floes of open pack ice are present off the north-central coast of St. Lawrence Island, extending approximately 1 to 20 nm offshore between Savoonga and Ataakas Camp. The waters surrounding the rest of the island are sea ice free.

Nome

Giant floes of very close pack ice extend 1 to 1.5 nm offshore near Nome. Beyond that is 1...

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Near St. Lawrence Island

There is a giant flow of close pack ice off the northwest coast of the island, extending from 3 nm east of Gambell to 17nm east of Gambell. There is also open pack ice extending up to 5 nm offshore from the north-central coast of the island, beginning approximately 12 nm east of Savoonga. Otherwise, open water surrounds the remainder of St. Lawrence Island.

[Nome](http://www...

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Near St. Lawrence Island

There is very open ice pack to the north and east of Savoonga with medium to vast floes. Otherwise open water surrounds St. Lawrence Island.

Nome

Shorefast ice extends up to 2 nm offshore from Nome, then 1 to 2 nm of very open pack ice with small to big floes. Beyond the very open pack ice is widespread very close pack ice with vast to...

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Near St. Lawrence Island

Across the eastern end of the island there is an area that is 45 miles wide, stretching from Nome, to 50 miles south of the island. This contains very close pack ice that includes primarily big to vast floes up to 28 inches thick. West of Lietnik (including Gambell and Savoonga), there is open water mainly west of Lietnik. North and east of Lietnik is widespread close to very close...

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Near St. Lawrence Island

South of the island, there is a polynya that extends 18 to 32 nautical miles (nm) south that has begun to fill in with new (0-4 inches thick) ice, then there is an area 20 to 25 nm wide of close to very close pack ice that includes primarily big to vast floes up to 28 inches thick. To the west and north of Gambell and Savoonga, there is open water mainly west of Lietnik. East of the...

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Near St. Lawrence Island

South of the island, there is a polynya that extends 3 to 12 nm south that has begun to fill in with new (0 to 4 inches thick) and young (4 to12 inches thick) ice, then there is an area 8 to 14 nm wide of very close pack ice that includes primarily big to vast floes up to 28 inches thick. South of this area is an area of close pack ice up to 20 nm wide with strips of ice. To the west...

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State of the Ice at Season’s Start

Contributed by Matthew Druckenmiller (National Snow and Ice Data Center and SEARCH Sea Ice Action Team) & Hajo Eicken (University of Alaska Fairbanks)

The sea ice cover in the Bering and southern Chukchi seas got off to a remarkably late start in fall 2017. The Chukchi Sea was not ice-covered (> 95% ice concentration) until December 31, which was the latest ever observed since the satellite record...

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