ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) – A Pacific storm of record proportions swept a remote stretch of Alaska’s Aleutian Islands chain on New Year’s Eve, battering a region used heavily by commercial shipping with hurricane-force winds and seas five stories high.
“It’s the most intense storm ever recorded in the North Pacific, excluding typhoons,” said Brian Brettschneider, a NOAA research scientist with the National Weather Service.
The center of what forecasters refer to as “bomb cyclone” was measured at a record-low barometric pressure of 921 millibars, equivalent to the eye of a Category 4 hurricane and the lowest documented over the Aleutians as far back as the 1950s, Brettschneider said.
The storm unleashed seas as high as 54 feet (16.5 meters) and winds topping 80 miles per hour (120 kph) – a force of Category 1 on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale – in the western Aleutians, the weather service said.
A NWS Pacific Surface Analysis showing 921mb low pressure system in the Pacific Ocean, December 31, 2020.
The storm was too far from large populated areas to pose a direct hazard to many people besides those traveling in the region by aircraft or vessel, Brettscheneider said.
The Aleutian island of Shemya with a small air station and a few personnel was in the epicenter of the storm, about 1,450 miles southwest of Anchorage, Alaska’s largest city. Most of the Aleutian Islands are uninhabited.
The waters, however, are heavily used by cargo ships traveling between Asia and North America. Thousands of vessels a year ply a shipping corridor known as the North Pacific Great Circle Route. The area is also important for commercial fishing.
A new Alaska land-based low pressure record has been set! Shemya, AK dropped to 924.8mb at 2159Z (1259 AKST) today. The previous accepted record was from a ship in Dutch Harbor at 925mb in 1977. Pressure is now slowly rising at Shemya. #akwx#hurricaneforcepic.twitter.com/1yiYOPvsTr
The storm also caused some erosion of Bering Sea winter ice, already at some of its thinnest levels on record for this time of year, further disrupting a frozen landscape that walruses and some species of seals depend on.
“This may kind of set back ice formation,” Brettschneider said, adding that it would likely take five or six days for the winds to calm and for cold northern air to flow back in, allowing the Bering Sea to regain some ice. (Reporting by Yereth Rosen; Editing by Steve Gorman and Neil Fullick)
Shipowners and charterers are altering leasing contracts to cope with the multi-million dollar port fees expected to be imposed on Chinese-built vessels by the Trump administration, according to people familiar with the matter.
The United States' announcement of a 25% tariff on auto imports rippled throughout the world on Thursday, as global vehicle suppliers warned of immediate price hikes and dealers raised fears of job losses in countries with a large car industry.
March 27, 2025
Total Views: 831
Get The Industry’s Go-To News
Subscribe to gCaptain Daily and stay informed with the latest global maritime and offshore news
— just like 108,902 professionals
Secure Your Spot
on the gCaptain Crew
Stay informed with the latest maritime and offshore news, delivered daily straight to your inbox
— trusted by our 108,902 members
Your Gateway to the Maritime World!
Essential news coupled with the finest maritime content sourced from across the globe.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.