Situated at the head of a deep, stillwater fjord in the northeast section of Prince William Sound, Valdez is surrounded by the Chugach Mountains. The location of Valdez brings some interesting weather patterns from high wind to significant snowfall. Valdez is the snow capital of the Unites States receiving an average of 320 inches of snowfall each year. Check out some weather stats for Valdez provided by the local office of the National Weather Service.
Top 5 Snow Events
(snow in inches per season)
1990- 560.7
1992- 516.6
2011- 438.3
2000- 395.0
2001- 391.3
Top 5 Liquid Precip Events
(rain in inches per season)
1995- 122.65
1981- 93.30
1988- 90.97
1989- 86.12
1992- 85.14
Top 5 Wind Records
(Date & MPH)
November 29, 2012- 97mph
January 10, 1980- 94 mph
February 13, 2011- 94 mph
February 26, 2011- 87 mph
January 9, 1980- 85 mph
Maximum Temperature
(Date & Degrees Fahrenheit)
June 26, 1997- 86 degrees
July 3, 1999- 85 degrees
July 2, 1979- 85 degrees
July 27, 1987- 84 degrees
August 8, 2008- 83 degrees
Minimum Temperature
(Date & Degrees Fahrenheit)
February 5, 1999- 10 below zero
January 17, 2011- 9 below zero
January 22, 1989- 8 below zero
January 25, 1973- 8 below zero
January 4, 1975- 7 below zero
CLICK HERE for a current avalanche report from the Alaska Avalanche Information Center.
CLICK HERE for current Earthquake Activity in Valdez and around the state of Alaska.
CLICK HERE for the Northern Lights prediction website.
KVAK Weather Update As of Friday, May 23, 2013
High Temperature Temp - 58 - Thursday
Low Temperature
Temp 29 -Monday
Temperature records broken over the course of the past week Mondays record of 29 broke the previous record set in 1966
Snowfall for the Past Week 1.8 inches
1.3 inches fell Thursday of last week
.5 inches fell Friday of last week
Previous snowfall on those days was zero inches
Snowfall for the Month 27.3 inches
More than 25 inches above normal
Snowfall for the Season 404.6 inches
79 inches above normal
Broke 400 inches 2 seasons in a row
The snow season was 217 days - 10/13 through 5/17
Snowload Less than 50 Pounds per square foot
Snow records broken in the past week Any snow falling after May 14 is a record for each day
The record for the least amount of snow to fall in a season was set in 1973/1974 183 inches
Precipitation for the Month 10.66 inches
8.7 inches above normal
Precipitation Year-To-Date 36.9 inches
14.6 inches above normal
Precipitaion records broken this past week 1.05 inches fell on Friday breaking the previous record of .7 inches set in 1997
Precipitation records broken November 2012 turned out to be the 5th driest November in the past 20 years. Average monthly precipitation for Valdez during November is 5.49 inches of liquid precipitation with 42.6 inches of snow falling and an average snowdepth of 28 inches.
In 2012 the National Weather Service Office measured 1/02 inches of liquid precipitation and 18.9 inches of snow with a snow depth of 5 inches.
The top 5 driest Novembers are:
1975 with 0.42 inches of water
2006 with 0.47 inches of water
1977 with 0.70 inches of water
1990 with 0.87 inches of water
2012 with 1.03 inches of water
All temperatures and measurements are provided by the local office
of the National Weather Service
