The remnants of Typhoon Champi are expected to move through the southern Bering Sea, reaching the Bristol Bay region Saturday morning, according to the National Weather Service.
Jason Laney, warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service, said as tropical storms move toward colder waters, they often swell in size, spreading wind over a much larger area. That means communities along the Aleutian Islands and Western Alaska will still feel the effects.
“As they move up into the high latitudes and begin to impact parts of Alaska, that wind field it really expands,” Laney said. “We're talking not just 10, 20 miles from the center. We're talking 100, 200 miles from the center.”
In a briefing issued Wednesday afternoon, the weather service said Hooper Bay on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta could see water levels reach 2 to 4 feet above normal high tide line Thursday afternoon, potentially flooding a road that connects the east and west sides of town.
A coastal flood advisory is also issued from Hooper Bay to Kotlik starting at 7 a.m. Thursday.
Communities farther north, including Nome and Kotzebue, could also experience high surf and coastal erosion.
In Nome, Laney said heavy rainfall is the bigger concern, with about 1.5 inches in the forecast. That rain, combined with high water levels in Norton Sound, could make it difficult for the Nome and Snake rivers to drain.
“Where is all that water going to go? It's going to have a hard time depositing into the Norton Sound because the water from the Norton Sound is trying to come up the river,” he said.
Champi is just one of a series of fall storms fueled by a powerful El Niño, Laney said. A Bering Sea storm last week led to the cancellation of flights across Western Alaska and prompted some residents to evacuate their homes in Kivalina.
Early next week, Laney expects another low-pressure system — potentially even stronger than Champi — to enter the Bering Sea.
“And it looks like it's going to linger for a while,” Laney said. “So I think we just need to be prepared for this ongoing weather pattern to hold up.”
The latest forecast is available on the National Weather Service’s website.