By Brian Lada, Meteorologist
November 9,2014; 12:43AM,EST
A powerful storm has moved into the Bering Sea and has become the most intense storm to ever impact the region.
The former Super Typhoon Nuri has tracked northward into the Bering Sea, located in between Alaska and Russia, and has lost all tropical characteristics.
The system has undergone rapid intensification, producing howling winds as the central pressure plummets to near record levels.
On Friday night, the Ocean Prediction Center analyzed the central area of low pressure to be 924 millibars.
Previous to this storm, the old record stood at 925 millibars from a powerful storm that moved over the Bering Sea on Oct. 25, 1977.
To put this in perspective, the lowest pressure recorded in Hurricane Sandy was 940 millibars.
Due to the massive size of the storm, impacts can be felt hundreds of miles away from the storm's center through much of the weekend.
Visible satellite image captured Typhoon Nuri as it churned over the West Pacific on Nov. 5, 2014. (Satellite Image/NASA)Large waves and hurricane-force winds are expected to be the highest impacts with waves in some areas topping 45 feet through Saturday.
Waves this large can quickly turn deadly, tossing around ships sailing in the area.
Waves and swells are not expected to be nearly this high along the west coast of Alaska. However, they may still be strong enough to cause flooding and erosion in coastal areas.
The Aleutian Island Chain is enduring the worst impacts as bands of wind-swept rain will persist through the weekend. Peak wind gusts across the islands can occasionally gust beyond 100 mph before diminishing Saturday night.
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This storm will not only have impacts on Alaska, eastern Russia and the Bering Sea, but also the contiguous United States.
According to Senior Meteorologist Brett Anderson, "In brief, when a typhoon curves away from Asia it causes the jet stream [steering winds] farther to the east across the Pacific and into North America to buckle and amplify days later."
This is the case for the remnants of Super Typhoon Nuri as it has already curved away from Asia and is tracking northward toward Alaska.
As a result, arctic air is expected to invade a large part of the United States during the new week.
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