Weather service forecast up to 6 inches of slushy snow for Kivalina and Red Dog Dock

The National Weather Service in Fairbanks forecast 3 to 6 inches of snow and gusts as high as 40 mph for Kivalina and Red Dog Dock through Monday afternoon, in a special weather statement issued Sunday.

Travel could be difficult, the statement said. Rain was likely to mix with snow Sunday afternoon, and because temperatures were around freezing, forecasters said accumulations would be slushy.

The office's other statements for western Alaska that weekend called for less. Statements for Eastern Norton Sound, the Nulato Hills, the Yukon Delta Coast and the Lower Yukon and Innoko valleys forecast 2 to 4 inches and gusts to 30 mph. Snow could be heavy at times, and blowing snow could significantly reduce visibility, they said. A Monday statement gave the same totals for the Lower Yukon, Upper Kuskokwim and Innoko valleys through Monday night.

The snow came late in the shipping season at the dock. Red Dog Mine concentrate is stored and loaded there when the port is ice-free, about 100 days a year, according to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation. Teck describes a July-to-late-October season serving 22 to 26 vessels and 3 to 4 barges, moving more than 1 million wet metric tonnes of zinc concentrate and more than 200,000 wet metric tonnes of lead concentrate. The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority owns the mine's road and port system.

At the Oct. 15 Nome Port Commission meeting, a port report said a Delta Western vessel was delivering fuel at Red Dog and its return to Nome depended on conditions there. The report said fuel deliveries in Nome would likely run to around Oct. 25 to 27, the latest the port has done.

A high surf advisory issued Oct. 5 called for water 2 to 4 feet above the normal high tide line at Kivalina and Red Dog Dock and warned of localized beach erosion.

The Fairbanks office also expects a strong coastal storm to bring gusts over 60 mph to the West Coast starting Thursday night, with coastal flooding possible from the Seward Peninsula south.