Wind Advisory 4, NWS Fairbanks, AK

179 
WWAK73 PAFG 200015
NPWAFG

URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE
National Weather Service Fairbanks AK
315 PM AKST Thu Feb 19 2026

AKZ836-201600-
/O.CON.PAFG.WI.Y.0004.000000T0000Z-260220T2100Z/
Upper Tanana Valley-
Including the cities of Tanacross, the Alaska Highway east of MP
1392, the Taylor Highway south of MP 9, Northway, Tetlin, Tok,
the Tok Cutoff north of MP 105, and Alcan
315 PM AKST Thu Feb 19 2026

...WIND ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL NOON AKST FRIDAY...

* WHAT...Northwest winds 20 to 25 mph with gusts up to 45 mph 
  expected.

* WHERE...Upper Tanana Valley.

* WHEN...Until noon AKST Friday.

* IMPACTS...Gusty winds will blow around unsecured objects. Tree 
  limbs could be blown down and a few power outages may result.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

Winds this strong can make driving difficult, especially for high 
profile vehicles. Use extra caution.

&&

$$

CRM

400 
WWAK73 PAFG 201428
NPWAFG

URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE
National Weather Service Fairbanks AK
528 AM AKST Fri Feb 20 2026

AKZ836-201530-
/O.CAN.PAFG.WI.Y.0004.000000T0000Z-260220T2100Z/
Upper Tanana Valley-
Including the cities of the Taylor Highway south of MP 9,
Tanacross, Alcan, Northway, Tok, the Alaska Highway east of MP
1392, Tetlin, and the Tok Cutoff north of MP 105
528 AM AKST Fri Feb 20 2026

...WIND ADVISORY IS CANCELLED...

Winds may continue to gust to around 25 mph through the first half 
of the day.

$$

Northern Alaska Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Fairbanks AK
340 PM AKST Wed Feb 18 2026

.SYNOPSIS...
Wintry weather is ongoing across much of Northern Alaska today as an
atmospheric river of snow persists into the Interior. Widespread
accumulating snow from this initial system has ended across the
Western Alaska as the main axis of moisture has shifted eastward
into the Interior. The parent low pressure still remains in place in
the Chuckchi sea for now, keeping blizzard conditions along the NW
Arctic Coast and show showers along the North Slope through tonight.
A cold front extends southward through the Interior, traversing
eastward through the rest of the evening. Snow is expected to end
from west to east behind the front through the rest of the evening
before the next wave of snow showers moves in from the Bering. An
additional few inches of snow is possible from these snow showers,
beginning this evening in the YK Delta then shifting into the
Interior tonight through Thursday. A brief period of arctic air with
lows in the -20F to -40F range expected Friday through this
weekend  before temperatures moderate closer to normal ahead of
the next winter storm.

Closely watching the next significant winter storm to impact Alaska
Saturday through Tuesday with another round of strong winds and
widespread accumulating snow. Wind and heavy precipitation impact
the West Coast as early as Saturday, expanding to the North Slope on
Sunday then into the Interior by the beginning of next week. As
confidence increases in finer details, additional winter weather
headlines may need to be issued for a good portion of Northern
Alaska in the coming days for this next event.

&&

.KEY WEATHER MESSAGES...

Central and Eastern Interior...
- Winter Storm Warnings remain in effect through Thursday where
widespread  total snowfall accumulations of 5 to 10 inches are
expected. Highest amounts likely north and west of Fairbanks where
isolated spots could see 10 to 15 inches by Thursday evening.

- A brief break in the snow this evening and tonight before another
round of snow showers moves in early Thursday morning

- Much colder temperatures Friday through the weekend with lows
  potentially below -30F Saturday and Sunday mornings.

West Coast and Western Interior...

- Improving conditions for the majority of the West Coast, lingering
snow showers continue into tonight

- Much colder air arrives Thursday and Friday with double digit
  sub zero lows.

- Watching for another significant multi-day winter storm to impact
the West Coast from Saturday through at least Monday with strong
winds, snow, and potentially mixed precipitation along the coast.

North Slope and Brooks Range...
- Blizzard conditions persist for the NW Arctic Coast through
tonight with slowly improving conditions Thursday.

- Scattered snow showers will continue across the Arctic Plains
  Thursday night with additional snowfall between 1 and 2 inches.

- Watching for another significant multi-day winter storm to impact
the NW Arctic Coast and North Slope from Saturday through at least
Sunday with strong winds and widespread accumulating snow

&&

.FORECAST ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION...
Accumulating snow continues today for the interior of Alaska as the
atmospheric river of snow has shifted eastward. Satellite imagery
this afternoon shows the main fetch of moisture now stretching from
Central Yukon southwestward along the Alaska Range and to the AK
peninsula. The parent low responsible for this winter storm is still
up in the Chukchi Sea with a cold front southward through the
Interior. As of 330PM AKST, the frontal boundary is right near
Fairbanks and marching eastward with deeper moisture and steady snow
ahead of it, and much drier air aloft with a brief break in the
precipitation behind the front. Latest 00z RAOB sounding from
Fairbanks shows a strong inversion at 900mb with steep mid level
lapse rates up to 7.0C/km within the DGZ. This sounding should
support convective snow showers in the vicinity of the frontal
boundary over the next few hours in the Central and Eastern
Interior, with the heaviest snow showers producing 1"+/hour rates at
times. Outside of any convective snow showers, expect light snow
ahead of the front and areas of clearing behind the front. As
mentioned yesterday, strong wind shear aloft resulted in fracturing
of dendrites, leading to lower snow to liquid ratios than initially
expected through the day. Convective snow showers may be able to
produce higher SLRs locally leading to quick heavier accumulations.
But overall, snowfall accumulations today were on the lower end of
the forecasted ranges. Drier air and subsidence behind the front
will result in a brief break in the snow and even clearing in some
areas this evening and tonight.

The winter storm is not over yet as round two is already pushing in
from the west as seen on satellite imagery. Aloft, the main 500mb
upper low is stacked on top of the weakening surface low in the
Chukchi sea with a wave rounding the base of it and into the YK
Delta this evening. Since this wave is behind the cold front within
a westerly cold air advection regime, precipitation from this next
system will likely be more scattered and showery in nature. Forecast
soundings support low topped and fairly shallow convective snow
showers with the dendritic growth zone in the lowest 5,000ft agl co-
located with strong lift and lapse rates of 6-7C/km. While there
still is 20-30 kts of low level shear, this set up supports more
efficient dendrite production and heavier snowfall rates. Any snow
shower has the ability to produce brief periods of heavy snowfall
rates with much higher snow to liquid ratios than what was
observed today. As this wave traverses the YK Delta and into the
Interior overnight tonight, expect much larger snowflakes with
these showers with quick snowfall accumulations. A general 1-2" of
additional snowfall is expected with higher amounts of 3-4+
additional inches in westerly upslope favored areas and
potentially around Fairbanks. Timing for Fairbanks for heaviest
snow showers is the 3AM to 9AM timeframe with lingering snow
showers persisting into the Thursday afternoon.

Looking farther west, as the ridge continues to build, weather
will slowly become more benign with snow pushing farther east and
winds weakening. This will allow for low temperatures in the minus
20s across much of the West Coast Thursday night into Friday. The
cold snap won't last long as the ridge will push farther east.
Another system is looking to move into the Bering, from the SW,
later in the day on Friday. This will set up another round of
widespread snowfall. Looking over the NW Arctic Coast, winds will
begin to tighten once again with an associated low progress up the
east coast of Russia and a tightening area of high pressure over
eastern Alaska. The strong winds and additional snowfall could
provide the NW Arctic Coast with another round of potential
blizzard conditions. In addition to the snowfall across the West
Coast later in the week, the building ridge is also bringing up a
warmer air mass which may result in a wintry mix for the YK-Delta,
St. Lawrence Island, and parts of the Seward Peninsula. More of
this will be discussed below in the extended forecast portion of
the discussion.

&&

.EXTENDED FORECAST DAYS 4-7...

A much colder and drier airmass settles in over Alaska as strong
ridging builds over the Bering Straight and troughing deepens over
the eastern Interior and NW Canada. Latest guidance has strong
agreement on 850mb temperatures as low as -30C continuing into
Saturday before the ridge shifts east pushing the core of the arctic
airmass into Canada. Saturday morning is expected to be the coldest
morning across Northern Alaska as the core of the cold airmass
overlaps with clearing skies...with the best chance at lows at or
below -30F, and potentially below -40F in typically cold valleys.
The arctic airmass begins shifting eastward by Sunday, however
Sunday morning may be another cold one for the Eastern Interior as
lows make a run for -30F to -40F once again. A "warming" trend
develops across the rest of the interior toward the latter half of
the weekend and into the beginning of next week as yet another
winter storm impacts the state from the southwest.

Focus now shifts to a significant multi-day winter storm expected to
impact much of Alaska in the long term. Across the west, a
significant warming trend is underway by Saturday as the ridge axis
aloft shifts east, placing Western Alaska in a southwest flow
pattern once again with strong warm air and moisture advection from
the tropics. Long range guidance has been consistent in showing a
long fetch of tropical moisture extending from Hawaii to the Bering
Sea, bringing copious amount of moisture into the state.
Temperatures rise near the freezing mark for coastal locations this
weekend with another round of heavy precipitation for the majority
of the West Coast. This set up supports the potential for a wintry
mix over the YK-Delta, St. Lawrence Island, and parts of the Seward
Peninsula by the mid weekend. The parent low associated with this
system moves from western Siberia on Saturday to the NE Arctic Coast
by Monday directing the atmospheric river north and east across the
North Slope and Arctic Coast. The ECMWF Extreme Forecast Index has
highlighted all of Western and far Northern Alaska for significant
snowfall amounts well above climatological normals for this time
of year, with high agreement among ensemble members. While this
storm system is still a few days out and finer details may change,
confidence is increasing in a widespread, impactful winter storm
this weekend into early next week. Additional winter weather
headlines may be needed as confidence increases in the finer
details of the next winter storm. Friday may be the one relatively
benign day for all of Western Alaska as the parade of storms
continue to impact the state.

Coastal Hazard Potential Days 3 and 4...None

&&

.AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
AK...Blizzard Warning for AKZ801-815-817.
     Winter Storm Warning for AKZ831.
     Winter Storm Warning for AKZ834-838>847.
PK...Brisk Wind Advisory for PKZ802.
     Brisk Wind Advisory for PKZ803-850.
     Brisk Wind Advisory for PKZ804.
     Brisk Wind Advisory for PKZ806.
     Brisk Wind Advisory for PKZ807>812-855>858.
     Brisk Wind Advisory for PKZ816-851.
     Brisk Wind Advisory for PKZ817-854.
     Brisk Wind Advisory for PKZ852.
     Brisk Wind Advisory for PKZ853.
&&

CRM

Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Fairbanks AK
931 PM AKST Wed Feb 18 2026

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0130 PM     Snow             6 WNW Ester             64.90N 148.20W
02/18/2026  M5.0 Inch        Fairbanks North StaAK   Public

            Facebook comment. Murphy Dome, Drouin area
            between midnight and 1330. Picture included.

0300 PM     Snow             2 ENE North Pole        64.76N 147.31W
02/18/2026  E6.0 Inch        Fairbanks North StaAK   Public

            Facebook comment.

0300 PM     Snow             3 NE College            64.91N 147.74W
02/18/2026  M3.8 Inch        Fairbanks North StaAK   Public

            Facebook comment. Total for the hills off
            Farmers Loop.

0320 PM     Snow             North Pole              64.75N 147.36W
02/18/2026  M5.5 Inch        Fairbanks North StaAK   Public

            Facebook comment. Located in North Pole.
            Picture included.

0330 PM     Snow             3 WNW Ester             64.88N 148.12W
02/18/2026  E6.0 Inch        Fairbanks North StaAK   Public

            Facebook comment. Located in Ester - 6.2
            miles up Old Nenana Hwy.

0415 PM     Snow             4 SE Ester              64.80N 147.93W
02/18/2026  E4.3 Inch        Fairbanks North StaAK   Public

            Twitter/X comment. Picture included. Chena
            Marina off Chena Pump Road.

0430 PM     Snow             5 N College             64.94N 147.81W
02/18/2026  M4.5 Inch        Fairbanks North StaAK   Trained Spotter

            In Fairbanks.Weather email. ~14 hr snow
            total.

0430 PM     Snow             2 WSW Fox               64.95N 147.67W
02/18/2026  M5.0 Inch        Fairbanks North StaAK   Public

            Facebook comment. Goldstream Valley north of
            Goldstream Store, 940 ft elev, SE side of
            Moose Mtn. Picture included.

0435 PM     Snow             3 E North Pole          64.75N 147.26W
02/18/2026  M5.3 Inch        Fairbanks North StaAK   Public

            Facebook comment.

0447 PM     Snow             3 S Ester               64.80N 148.01W
02/18/2026  M6.5 Inch        Fairbanks North StaAK   Public

            Facebook comment. Top of North Becker Ridge
            Road.

0525 PM     Snow             2 NW Fairbanks          64.86N 147.69W
02/18/2026  E4.0 Inch        Fairbanks North StaAK   Public

            Facebook comment. Old Steese Hwy N.

0528 PM     Snow             8 ESE Fox               64.90N 147.40W
02/18/2026  E6.5 Inch        Fairbanks North StaAK   Public

            Facebook comment. 6-7 off John Kalinad
            (thinking it was a typo and meant Kalinas).

0607 PM     Snow             3 SSW Fox               64.91N 147.65W
02/18/2026  M3.5 Inch        Fairbanks North StaAK   Trained Spotter

            In the Fairbanks.Weather email.

0700 PM     Snow             North Pole              64.75N 147.36W
02/18/2026  E7.0 Inch        Fairbanks North StaAK   Public

            Facebook comment. Located in North Pole.

0722 PM     Snow             2 ENE Ester             64.86N 147.93W
02/18/2026  M5.3 Inch        Fairbanks North StaAK   Public

            Facebook comment. Located off of Goldhill,
            just after the top of the hill on the Ester
            side. Picture included.

0847 PM     Snow             Two Rivers              64.87N 147.09W
02/18/2026  E4.8 Inch        Fairbanks North StaAK   Public

            Facebook comment. Located in Two Rivers.

0430 PM     Snow             3 W Lignite             63.89N 149.13W
02/18/2026  M8.0 Inch        Denali             AK   Trained Spotter

            In Fairbanks.Weather email. ~13 hr snow
            total of 8 inches.

0551 PM     Snow             3 S Ferry               63.89N 149.13W
02/18/2026  M11.0 Inch       Denali             AK   Public

            In the Fairbanks.Weather email. Included a
            picture.

0747 PM     Snow             3 NNW Anderson          64.35N 149.19W
02/18/2026  E16.5 Inch       Denali             AK   Public

            Facebook comment. Located in Anderson.

&&