Atmospheric River Dumps Way Too Much Rain On Portage, Whittier and Girdwood

 Record Rainfall Deluges Turnagain Arm (27.90 inches Over Six Days) While Anchorage Barely Gets A Drop

Direct From The South: A Warm Low Pressure Area Stalls Out In Prince William Sound:

In what the meteorologists from KTUU called an "Atmospheric River" a huge storm broke all rainfall records in the upper Kenai by a wide margin. A low pressure area stalled out in the western corner of Prince William Sound for almost a week. 

The rainfall predictably wreaked havoc as rivers overflowed, culverts washed out and cliffs and steep banks slid onto roadways and trails.

KTUU reported the six day rainfall total was 19.04 inches in Girdwood. That broke the previous six day total of 12.10 inches. The rainfall for Portage was even worse – coming in at a whopping 27.90 inches of rain in the six day period. According to KTUU, the old six day record for Portage was 23.87 inches.

According to NOAA, thirteen inches of snow equals one inch of rain, so If the temperatures had been a few degrees colder and the rain had come down as snow, it could have translated to 351 inches of snow (that's 29 feet of snow)! And, of course, that may be exactly what happened at higher elevations in the Chugach Mountain Range.