Nome gets pummeled by storm and weather-unrelated power outage
Fri, 10/23/2026 - 10:02pm
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By Diana Haecker
A storm with high winds and snow turning into rain hit Nome this morning, 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 Wartsila 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.
light.
NJUS said they continue 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 is still in effect for the Southern Seward Peninsula until 1 a.m. Saturday. As of 6:30 p.m. Friday, winds in Nome are sustained 35 mph out of the Southeast with gusts up to 50 mph.
Nome’s roads are turned to mud inches deep, mixed with sleet and ice. The storm is forecast to let up around 1 a.m. when winds are forecast to calm down to 20 mph.