Dangerous, disruptive rain-on-snow events are expected to increase in northern Alaska

A rapidly warming North will see more instances of rain falling on snow — a potentially dangerous combination.

Winter rains falling atop snow in the far North are disruptive and dangerous for people and sometimes deadly for wildlife. In January, a deluge of midwinter rain destabilized a rock cliff and loosening a nearly fatal rock slide on the highway leading south of Anchorage. Rainfall damaged trail conditions enough to force cancellation of two important Alaska sled-dog races. And while the crust of ice created by rain on snow is treacherous for human travel, it can kill animals like caribou, which have evolved to dig through soft snow to find the tundra plants that are their food.