Anchorage, the Matanuska-Susitna Borough and the Kenai Peninsula are under a flood watch from Friday morning through Monday morning.

NWS Alaska meteorologist Tim Markle said the warnings are designed to let community members know when the cold weather presents a risk to the community. However, the old system set wind chill warnings and advisories, which were statewide in scope, and only kicked in when there was a wind chill.

The largest populated city in Alaska is still recovering from the hurricane-force winds that battered homes and infrastructure on Sunday, leaving thousands without power.

It may be January, but the unusually warm, rainy weather feels more like spring breakup, and it's bringing the kind of flooding concerns also usually not seen in the Anchorage area until later in the year.

Expect temperatures to get warmer during the days through the weekend, but overnight lows will still be freezing for most of North and Central Florida.

Advisories from the NWS were in place for New York, Montana, California, Wyoming, Colorado and Alaska early on Friday.

Peak gusts included 66 mph at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, 110 mph at Bear Valley and 107 mph at Arctic Valley.

At the height of the storm, 17,500 Alaska residents were without power, according Chugach Electric Association.

The rare Southern storm prompted this headline from the Anchorage Daily News: "Hey, New Orleans, please send some of your snow to Anchorage."

Researchers at Argonne National Laboratory in southwest suburban Lemont are taking a close look at how that Arctic weather is impacting weather in the Chicago area, and how climate change plays a role.

It may be January, but the unusually warm, rainy weather feels more like spring breakup, and it's bringing the kind of flooding concerns also usually not seen in the Anchorage area until later in the year.

Temperatures plunged below freezing across parts of northern Florida on Wednesday, with some areas even dipping into the teens, making parts of the Sunshine State colder than Anchorage, Alaska. Millions of people are facing frigid temperatures through this week.