A powerful fall storm – the strongest since a mid-November storm in 1974 – is pounding Alaska's west coast with hurricane-force winds and a storm surge that in many places is expected to top eight feet above the high-tide line.
IN PICTURES: Huge hurricanes
This shore-fast ice, which builds in bays along the coast north of Nome, typically represents a first line of defense against coastal flooding when storms plow into the state's coastline. It reduces storm surge.
With this storm, however, less-extensive shore-fast ice leaves it vulnerable to the storm surge, Mr. Berg says. On Nov. 2, the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo., noted that the 2011 summer melt season ended with the second lowest summer sea-ice extent since satellites began tracking sea ice in the late 1970s.
