Sea Ice for Walrus Outlook Archive

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Synopsis – High pressure will quickly move east across the Bering Sea through Thursday night, then a low will move into the western Bering Sea Friday. That low will slowly move eastward across the central Bering Sea through Monday.

Near St. Lawrence Island

There is shorefast ice on the north, east, and south sides of St. Lawrence Island. On the north/south sides, generally extending 1 to 2 miles offshore...

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Synopsis – A low pressure and front will move near the Bering Strait region through Friday, weakening in place on Saturday. Another will move from west to east across the Bering Sea Monday into Tuesday, south of St. Matthew Island. Northerly flow sticks around through the middle of the week before a pattern change late in the week.

Near St. Lawrence Island

There is shorefast ice on the north, east, and...

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Synopsis Several weak fronts will affect the Bering Sea, one in the eastern Bering Sea, one in the western Bering Sea. A strong front will traverse the Bering Sea from west to east Monday and Tuesday. The next strong low/front will come into the central Bering Sea on Saturday. The latter will be associated with a low-pressure system moving from west to east around 62N. The next strong front and low pressure moves into the Bering Sea on Sunday.

Near...

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Synopsis High pressure will gradually move eastward across the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas through Monday.

Near St. Lawrence Island

The only remaining sea ice around St. Lawrence Island is northeast of the island, generally between Camp Iveetok and just east of Camp Kulowiye, extending up to 65 miles from the coast. This is close to very close pack ice consisting of medium to vast floes.

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Synopsis - High pressure will extend into the Bering Sea from the North Pacific. Another area of high pressure will extend from the Canadian Arctic into the Beaufort Sea. Between these two areas, a weak area of low pressure will extend from the Alaska mainland over the Bering Strait.

Near St. Lawrence Island

The only remaining shorefast ice around St. Lawrence Island is between Camp Iveetok and 5 to 7...

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Synopsis Low pressure will dissipate in the far western Bering Sea through Friday. Another low will move just south of the Chain through Monday. High pressure will sit over the Beaufort through the period.

Near St. Lawrence Island

Satellite imagery from the evening of Wednesday, May 27th and morning of Thursday, May 28th show pretty rapid deterioration of the ice around the island. Shorefast ice...

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Synopsis A broad low pressure over the southern Bering will dissipate while a stronger northwest Pacific low pressure will weaken in place through Monday.

Near St. Lawrence Island

Satellite imagery from the evening of Wednesday, May 20th and morning of Thursday, May 21st shows the shorefast ice on the north side of the island remains intact especially from Savoonga eastward, extending up to 7 miles...

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Synopsis A series of lows will move eastward generally along the Aleutian Islands through Monday. High pressure will remain over the high Arctic through Monday.

Near St. Lawrence Island

Satellite imagery from the evening of Wednesday, May 13th and morning of Thursday, May 14th shows the shorefast ice on the north side of the island remains intact especially from Savoonga eastward, extending up to 7 miles...

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Synopsis High pressure will remain over the eastern Beaufort Sea through Monday. Low pressure over the southwest Bering Sea will gradually weaken, then another low will move into the same area Friday through Monday.

Near St. Lawrence Island

Satellite imagery from the evening of 6 May shows the shorefast ice on the north side of the island remains intact. From Gambell to Kangee Camp it extends from...

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Synopsis High pressure will remain over the northern Bering Sea, while a low moves eastward across the southern Bering Sea through Monday.

Near St. Lawrence Island

Satellite imagery from the evening of 29 April shows the shorefast ice on the north side of the island remains intact. From Gambell to Kangee Camp it extends from about 1.5 miles to 4 miles off-shore. Between Kangee Camp and Savoonga, there is...

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Synopsis A low pressure system in the North Pacific on Wednesday will move over the Alaska Peninsula on Thursday. By Saturday, the low pressure system will move into the Gulf of Alaska and remain there through Monday.

Near St. Lawrence Island

Satellite imagery shows that shorefast ice remains intact on the north side of the island, extending 1 to 6 miles from the coast. There is also shorefast ice on the...

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Synopsis A weak low in the southwest Bering Sea will dissipate as another larger and stronger low moves into the southern Bering Sea Thursday and gradually weakens through Monday.

Near St. Lawrence Island

Satellite imagery shows that shorefast ice remains intact on the north side of the island, extending 1 to 6 miles from the coast. There is also shorefast ice on the south side of the island, extending...

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Synopsis A low will move northward through the western Bering Sea through Saturday, as high pressure slowly moves eastward across the southern Bering Sea.

Near St. Lawrence Island

Satellite imagery shows that shorefast ice extends 1 to 6 miles from the north side of the island. A polynya has formed north of the shorefast ice from Gambell to Kangee Camp extending up to 4 miles beyond the shorefast ice, as...

State of the Ice at Season’s Start

Contributed by Matthew Druckenmiller (National Snow and Ice Data Center and SEARCH Sea Ice Action Team) & Hajo Eicken (University of Alaska Fairbanks)

This past winter in the northern Bering Sea region, as well as across Alaska, was dominated by very cold temperatures. This cold period began in mid-December 2019 and continued through mid-March 2020. Figure 1 shows these unusually cold temperatures...

Special Statement from National Weather Service Alaska

National Weather Service SIWO forecast information is not available this week due to unforeseen circumstances. Please go to https://weather.gov/afg for your local NWS marine and public weather forecasts and https://weather.gov/ice for sea ice analysis and forecasts at this time. We hope to have NWS weather and ice forecast information available once again next week.

Sea ice maps are still available. The State of the Ice at Season's Start Report will be provided by Matthew Druckenmiller and Hajo Eicken in next week's report.

This will be the last Outlook of the 2019 Season. Thanks to all local observers and partners for their contributions!

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Forecast Synopsis for 30 May – 3 June 2019

Synopsis A low pressure system will rotate near the Bristol Bay area through Friday while weak and broad low pressure remains over the mainland.

Near St. Lawrence Island

The closest sea ice is open water along the Russian coast...

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Forecast Synopsis for 23–27 May 2019

Synopsis High pressure will remain over much of the Bering and Chukchi through Friday. On Saturday a low pressure system will enter the eastern Bering Sea and remain through Monday.

Near St. Lawrence Island

There is an area of consolidated pack ice along the coast east of Savoonga that extends up to 0.25 nm from shore. The nearest sea ice to Gambell is open...

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Forecast Synopsis for 16–20 May 2019

Synopsis. Low pressure will remain over the Gulf of Alaska and mainland Alaska while high pressure remains over Siberia. The result is a long period of northerly flow at the surface.

Near St. Lawrence Island

There is an area of consolidated pack ice along the coast east of Savoonga that extends up to 0.75 nm from shore. Extending north from that pack ice to the...

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Forecast Synopsis for 9–13 May 2019

Synopsis. Low pressure will remain over the eastern Bering Sea through Saturday. On Sunday, another low pressure system will move northward from over the mainland. This low pressure system will move into the Bering and Chukchi seas on Monday.

Near St. Lawrence Island

Strips of sea ice extend from approximately 3 nm west of Gambell northwest to the Russian coast...

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Forecast Synopsis for 2–7 May 2019

Synopsis. Low pressure will persist across the southwest Bering Sea through Friday before dissipating. Another low will move northward through the eastern Bering Sea Wednesday through Saturday. Otherwise, high pressure will generally persist across the mainland.

Near St. Lawrence Island

Sea ice is generally open to very open pack ice consisting of ice cakes to...

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Forecast Synopsis for 25 – 29 April 2019

Synopsis. High pressure will generally persist across the Arctic as well as the Bering Sea through Thursday. Both highs will begin to move eastward Thursday, continuing through Saturday as several lows move northward into the western Bering Sea.

Near St. Lawrence Island

Northerly winds have continued to bring the main area of consolidated pack ice...

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Forecast Synopsis for 18 – 22 April 2019

Synopsis. High pressure will generally persist across the Arctic as well as the southwest Bering Sea, while low pressure remains over the Alaska mainland through Monday.

Near St. Lawrence Island

Northerly winds have continued to bring the main area of consolidated pack ice consisting of big to giant floes toward the coast. From Gambell south, some additional...

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Forecast Synopsis for 11 – 15 April 2019

Synopsis. A strong low pressure will continue to move into the Bering Sea from the north Pacific. That system will weaken and move into the Gulf of Alaska on Friday, while a new system will enter the Bering on Saturday.

Near St. Lawrence Island

Northerly winds have brought the main area of very close pack ice back to the coast. The pack ice is up against the...

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Forecast Synopsis for 4 April – 8 April 2019

Synopsis. High pressure will reside over the Arctic while low pressure remains in the North Pacific/Gulf of Alaska.

Near St. Lawrence Island

The main area of very close pack ice is between Gambell and Savoonga, extending up to 32nm from the coast. West of Gambell is close pack ice with small to big floes extending 15 to 20nm west of Gambell. East of...