Nome pummeled by storm and weather-unrelated power outage

The story was updated with new information on Tuesday, Oct. 27.

A south storm with high winds and snow turning into rain hit Nome, causing school closure, flight cancelations and businesses, including AC and Hansons to close early. In addition to the inclement weather, a city-wide power outage occurred. According to Nome Joint Utilities General Manager John Handeland, the outage was not storm-related, but mechanical.
He said in a text to The Nome Nugget that a cooling system issue caused one generator to shut down. The second Wärtsilä generator was unavailable due to a scheduled project maintenance, a NJUS press release NJUS said.
“We had planned a plant switch today to allow tie-in of the new stack modules, to gather some kilowatts from engine exhaust stacks, that otherwise would continue to go up in smoke,” Handeland added.
Power was out between 10:55 a.m. and 1 p.m. as it took additional steps to reconfigure the electrical system and start up the old power plant.
Another, shorter power outage happened 5:45 p.m. and was resolved by 6 p.m. for short time before things went dark again. By 6:23 p.m. the power was back.
NJUS said they continued to address isolated power issues, now related to ice accumulation on the power lines as the storm continues to slap lines and drive sleet sideways.
A blizzard warning was in effect for the southern Seward Peninsula until 1 a.m. Saturday. Winds in Nome were sustained 31 mph out of the Southeast with gusts up to 63 mph. However, data is missing as the power outage affected the automated weather station in Nome at the airport and the NOAA tide gauge at the Port of Nome.
Nome and state roads have turned to mud inches deep, mixed with sleet and ice, and deep potholes formed especially on the Nome Council and the Beam Road. A washout at mile 17 of the Nome Council Road prompted the local Dept. of Transportation to issue an alert that the road is impassable beyond that point.
After a brief reprieve on Monday, another system hit Nome with 20 mph winds, 35 mph gusts and heavy precipitation that accumulate to 0.55 inches as of Tuesday evening and was expected to add another inch of rain by Wednesday afternoon.