ACCAP Webinar: An Overview of the 2023 Alaska Spring Breakup Season

Remote Sensing Tools Used by the NWS Alaska Pacific River Forecast

Speaker: Bob Busey, NWS Alaska Pacific River Forecast Center.

The spring break up of 2023 was among the worst of the last thirty years for flooding across the state of Alaska. The cool April slowed the melting and weakening of the river ice across many of the major rivers in the state. This resulted in a series of ice jams as the break up front moved down the Kuskokwim and Yukon towards the Bering Sea. This talk will be a bit of a summary of the spring as well as a walkthrough of some of the remote sensing products the River Forecast Center uses during the breakup season.