Storm sets record for the farthest north a severe thunderstorm warning has ever been issued in US

Thunderstorms lit up the skies with lightning in Alaska on Thursday, causing warnings to be issued in an area that hadn't seen them before.

Severe thunderstorms moved through the Cape Krusenstern National Monument, 500 miles northwest of Fairbanks, Alaska, Thursday morning with lightning, high winds, small hail and a shelf cloud worthy of a storm in the Plains.

A powerful area of low pressure swirling just north of the Aleutian Islands on Thursday aided in pumping warm and humid air well up into northern Alaska, AccuWeather Regional Expert Brandon Buckingham said.

"As the warm air clashed with cooler air to the north, powerful thunderstorms featuring wind gusts over 50 miles per hour and hail up to 1 inch in diameter prompted the National Weather Service (NWS) in Fairbanks, Alaska, to issue severe thunderstorm warnings well up into northern Alaska," Buckingham explained. "To date, this is the farthest north a severe thunderstorm warning has ever been issued by the NWS."

More than 23,000 lightning strikes were recorded in the 36 hours preceding Friday morning in Alaska and western Canada.