Weather service cancels Hooper Bay high surf advisory after water peaks Friday

The National Weather Service in Fairbanks canceled its High Surf Advisory for the Yukon Delta Coast at 7:42 pm Friday, after water at Hooper Bay peaked during the afternoon high tide. Water levels peaked around 4:30 pm and had begun to come down, the cancellation notice said, and Saturday's high tide was expected to be near normal with no more coastal impacts.

The advisory forecast water 2.5 to 3 feet above normal high tide at Hooper Bay during Friday's afternoon tide. Beach property and the lowest buildings in Hooper Bay could be affected, and multiple high tide cycles above normal could lead to localized beach erosion, the advisory said. Water along the rest of the Yukon Delta Coast was forecast at about 1 to 2 feet above the normal high tide line. The weather service rated the event minor.

Friday's advisory lowered the top of the forecast range. A Coastal Flood Advisory updated early Thursday had called for 2.5 to 3.5 feet at Hooper Bay during the Thursday and Friday high tides.

Hooper Bay flooded in a separate, larger storm on Oct. 23. A preliminary storm report from the agency's Fairbanks office said that flooding inundated local roads and affected access to the airfield, with forecast guidance putting the peak around 4 to 6 feet above normal high tide that afternoon. Alaska News previously covered the flood warning ahead of that storm.

Farther south, a separate Coastal Flood Advisory for the Kuskokwim Delta Coast, including Kipnuk, Kwigillingok and Kongiganak, called for water 1.5 to 3 feet above the normal highest tide line until 7 am Saturday.

The State Emergency Operations Center returned to routine operations Friday but will keep an Enhanced Watch through the weekend because more storms are forecast for the West Coast, according to the state emergency management division's daily situation report. The continuing storms allow limited time for water levels to recede, the report said.