Precipitation

Many parts of Alaska were hit with high impact weather in 2025, but Nome and most of western Alaska were comparatively spared.
Early in the year, the break-off of shore fast ice in front of Nome February was most unusual. Summer rainfall was less than in 2024 but was still more than 40 percent above normal, and only three other summers in the past 24 years had more rain. Still, there were more warm days and sunshine than the past few years.
The storm in early October that brought severe flooding to Kotzebue caused only minor problems around Norton Sound, though at Nome the ocean level reached the highest since Merbok in September 2022 and produced washouts on the Nome-Council Road between Safety Roadhouse and Solomon.
A few days later, winds with ex-typhoon Halong caused damage in some eastern Norton Sound communities. Wind can be a formidable part of our climate, but 2025 had comparatively few really windy days in Nome. The annual average wind speed of 8.9 mph was the lowest since 2013.
Temperatures for the year overall averaged just over 29ºF, about 1º above the 1991-2020 normal.
Total precipitation (rain plus the water equivalent of the snow) totaled 21 inches, nearly four inches above the long term normal, but as the graphic shows, this is the sixth year in past seven to revived more than 20 inches of precipitation, and the recent average is almost five inches higher than was typical in the 1970s.