Maintenance workers from the North Slope Borough braved freezing temperatures and snowy conditions as they tried to rebuild the sea walls in order to keep the coastal roads open, but to no avail.

A major contributing factor behind the brutal conditions was the distance between the ice pack and the Barrow coast. Jim Sweet, a meteorological technician for the weather service, said the ice pack is currently 200 to 300 miles from Barrow.

"That's a lot of distance for this time of year. It is very unusual." he said.

According to Sweet, These large expanses of water allow room for large waves to build in such windy conditions.

--The Associated Press