Tonsina, Alaska Weather
Tonsina, Alaska — live current conditions, hourly and 7-day forecasts, NWS alerts, radar and satellite imagery, soil and crop conditions for Tonsina, Copper River.
Full aviation weather for Tonsina is published on the May Creek Airport (KMYK) page, 137 km away. It carries the current METAR decoded into plain language — surface wind, visibility, cloud layers and ceiling, temperature and dewpoint, and altimeter setting — alongside the raw observation as transmitted.
The Terminal Aerodrome Forecast (TAF) is shown across its full validity period, with each change group broken out so you can see when conditions are expected to shift. Flight category is derived automatically — VFR, MVFR, IFR or LIFR — from reported ceiling and visibility, with runway details and field elevation alongside. Observations update roughly hourly and forecasts several times a day.
Conditions reported at KMYK describe the airfield itself. Weather 137 km away can differ, particularly in terrain or near the coast. For conditions at Tonsina specifically, see the current conditions and forecast above.
Soil conditions, frost risk and crop weather for Tonsina.
About Tonsina, Alaska
Tonsina lies where the vast Copper River valley begins its dramatic descent towards the sea, a place defined by the immense, glacier-fed waterway and the formidable mountain ranges that cradle it. It lies 159.0 miles east-north-east of Anchorage, AK (from Anchorage, AK: bearing 77°T), and is situated 53.1 miles north-east of Valdez. The air here, especially in the long, luminous evenings of summer, carries a crispness that hints at distant snowfields, a scent mingled with the damp earth and the resin of spruce and birch. The landscape is one of grand, almost overwhelming scale: broad, gravelly riverbars stretch for miles, punctuated by islands of cottonwood and willow, while the slopes of the Chugach Mountains rise steeply, their peaks often wreathed in mist. Even the smaller creeks that tumble down from the heights possess a wild energy, their waters a milky turquoise, carrying the fine glacial silt that gives the Copper River its characteristic hue. The light here possesses a peculiar quality, a prolonged twilight that seems to imbue everything with a soft, ethereal glow, blurring the edges between sky and land. The history of Tonsina is inextricably linked to the Copper River itself, a vital artery for prospectors and settlers seeking fortune in Alaska's interior. For generations, this was a place of passage, a stopping point along the arduous journey, and the echoes of those endeavors still resonate in the quiet persistence of the land. While the grand mining booms of yesteryear have largely subsided, the spirit of resourcefulness endures, manifesting in a local economy that still draws from the bounty of the region, from guiding and fishing to the careful management of timber. The proximity to vast wilderness areas, including the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, means that life in Tonsina is lived with a keen awareness of nature's power and its enduring generosity. The few scattered homes and structures seem to hold their ground with a quiet resilience, a testament to the enduring allure of this magnificent, untamed corner of Alaska.
Live animated radar for Tonsina and surroundings — RainViewer.
NOAA GOES-16 GEOCOLOR — live animated loop updated every 10 minutes. Shows cloud cover, storm systems and weather patterns across the continental US.
Source: NOAA/NESDIS GOES-East · Public domain · Auto-updates on page reload
| Location | Tonsina, Copper River, Alaska |
| Coordinates | 61.655833°N, 145.175278°W |
| Timezone | Alaska Time (America/Anchorage) |
| ZIP Code(s) | 99573 |
| Area Code | 907 |
| Page generated | September 2026 |
| Weather data | Open-Meteo (open-source), NOAA National Weather Service |
About This Tonsina, Alaska Weather Page
This page provides live weather conditions and forecasts for Tonsina, Alaska, including current conditions, a 24-hour hourly forecast, 7-day outlook, NWS extended text forecast, precipitation radar and NOAA GOES-16 satellite imagery. Aviation weather — live METAR observations and TAF forecasts — is published separately on the pages for the nearest reporting airports, linked from the aviation section above. Additional sections may include tide predictions, wave height, wave direction and sea-surface temperature, a barometric pressure trend, and a solunar-based fishing forecast with a fishing-conditions rating for coastal localities, and soil temperature, crop weather and live USGS river gauge data for agricultural areas near a monitored waterway. All data updates automatically on every page visit.
Location data for Tonsina includes coordinates 61.655833°N, 145.175278°W, situated in Copper River. ZIP code 99573. Telephone area code: 907. Timezone: Alaska Time (America/Anchorage).
Weather data is sourced from the NOAA National Weather Service (NWS) and the open-source Open-Meteo API. River and stream data is sourced from the USGS National Water Information System. Tide predictions are sourced from NOAA CO-OPS; marine and solunar data are modeled from Open-Meteo and public sunrise/moon calculations and should be treated as a general guide alongside on-the-water conditions. Radar is provided by RainViewer. Satellite imagery is sourced from NOAA/NESDIS GOES-East and is public domain.
