Heavy Rain, Yukon Flats Nearby Uplands
- When
- June 22, 12:00 AM AKST to June 24, 11:00 PM AKST
- Where
- Yukon Flats Nearby Uplands County, 12.71 mi SW of Circle to 6.4 mi SSW of Circle
- Reported by
- Department of Highways
- Coordinates
- 65.699, -144.395
Heavy Rain in Alaska, June 22 to 24, 2011
Heavy rainfall in excess of an inch on the 22nd caused a six mile section of the Steese Highway between Birch Creek and Circle to washout in spots on the 23rd. Repairs were made to the gravel road on the 23rd, but additional rainfall on the 23rd into the 24th caused another washout on the evening of the 24th with reports of 2 feet of water flowing over the road.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
What happened
The episode as NWS AFG wrote it up.
Heavy rainfall in excess of an inch on the 22nd caused a six mile section of the Steese Highway between Birch Creek and Circle to washout in spots on the 23rd. Repairs were made to the gravel road on the 23rd, but additional rainfall on the 23rd into the 24th caused another washout on the evening of the 24th with reports of 2 feet of water flowing over the road. The water flowing over the road was likely caused by plugged culverts and was not associated with flash flooding.
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Fairbanks, AK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jun 21, 11:03 AM AKST, 12 hours 57 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jun 21, 11:03 AM AKST, 12 hours 57 minutes before
NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK 1203 PM AKDT TUE JUN 21 2011 .DISCUSSION... UPPER HIGH NEAR GREAT BEAR LAKE PROGGED BY CURRENT MODELS TO REMAIN NEARLY STATIONARY THROUGH TUE. RIDGE WESTWARD ALONG THE ARCTIC COAST WILL BUILD SLIGHTLY. MAINLY EAST TO SOUTHEAST FLOW ALOFT PERSISTING OVER THE INTERIOR...850 MB TEMPERATURES OVER THE NORTHEAST INTERIOR AND EASTERN BROOKS RANGE WILL CONTINUE TO BE WARMER THAN CLIMATE NORMALS. GFS/NAM PICKING UP WEAK EASTERLY SHORT WAVE MOVING INTO THE EASTERN INTERIOR THU MORNING AND TO THE WESTERN INTERIOR BY LATE THU NIGHT. UPPER LOW NEAR KUSKOKWIM BAY EXPECTED TO MOVE LITTLE THROUGH TONIGHT THEN MOVE TO NORTON SOUND BY LATE WED NIGHT. AT THE SURFACE...THERMAL TROUGH FROM THE SEWARD PENINSULA EASTWARD ACROSS THE INTERIOR WILL REMAIN NEARLY STATIONARY THROUGH THU. THE BEST AREAS FOR AFTERNOON/EVENING THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY WILL BE IN THE NORTHERN AND EASTERN INTERIOR NEAR THE TROUGH AND WHERE PROGGED LIFTED INDEXES ARE NEAR ZERO OR NEGATIVE. SCATTERED SHOWERS NEAR THE WEST COAST UPPER LOW. LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL POSSIBLE IN PARTS OF THE SOUTHEAST INTERIOR WED NIGHT AND THU WITH THE EASTERLY SHORT WAVE...CURRENT GFS/EURO SHOWING SOME LOCALLY HEAVY 24 HR QPFS IN EXCESS OF 1 INCH OVER THE EASTERN INTERIOR FOR THE PERIOD ENDING 00Z FRI. EXTENDED OUTLOOK...A WARM SAT-MON PERIOD LIKELY OVER MUCH OF THE INTERIOR WITH BUILDING HIGH PRESSURE ALOFT. OPERATIONAL GFS 850 MB TEMPERATURES RUNNING A FEW DEGREES HOT COMPARED TO THE EURO AND ENSEMBLE MEANS...BUT EVEN THESE COOLER SOLUTIONS SUGGEST MAX TEMPERATURES OF 80 OR ABOVE AT MANY SITES. COASTAL HAZARD POTENTIAL DAYS 3 AND 4...NONE. && .FIRE WEATHER... RELATIVELY HIGH DEW POINT AIR WILL PERSIST OVER THE INTERIOR THROUGH THU...MIN RH IN THE AFTERNOON/EVENING WILL NOT LIKELY GET A LOT BELOW 40 PERCENT. NO RED FLAG CONDITIONS EXPECTED. MAX TEMPERATURES LIKELY REACHING 80 OR HIGHER OVER MANY PARTS OF THE INTERIOR SAT THROUGH MON. CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY IN THE CENTRAL/EASTERN INTERIOR LIKELY TO BE AT LEAST PARTIALLY CAPPED OFF BY THE UPPER HIGH WITH ABOVE NORMAL HEIGHTS. && .HYDROLOGY... LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL POSSIBLE IN PARTS OF THE EASTERN INTERIOR WED NIGHT AND THU WITH EASTERLY SHORT WAVE. && .AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && RF JUN 11
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 heavy rain. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Heavy Rain
- Rainfall totals unusual for the place and season that did not produce a flood.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Hail and Damaging Winds in New Jersey, June 22, 2011
- Tornadoes and Flash Flood in Kentucky, June 22, 2011
- Heavy Rain in New York, June 22, 2011
- Flash Flooding in North Dakota, June 22, 2011
- Flood and Hail in Michigan, June 22 to 23, 2011
- Damaging Winds in Georgia, June 22, 2011
- Flooding in California, June 22 to 25, 2011
- Flash Flood and Damaging Wind in Texas, June 22 to 23, 2011
- Damaging Winds in Alabama, June 22, 2011
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Alabama, June 22 to 24, 2011
- Hail and Damaging Winds in North Carolina, June 22, 2011
- Tornado and Damaging Winds in Michigan, June 22, 2011
More
Every storm in Alaska in 2011Every state in 2011This day in weather historyWarnings in Alaska, June 2011
Sources
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 309213.