It's been many years since I owned a plane, but back then I always filed my flight plan by phoning the flight service station, and always got a weather briefing in conjunction with filing. It sounds like Nome was below VFR minimums, and that prevented him from landing.  If the forecast at the time of his departure was forecasting that, then having gotten the briefing might have given him a chance to postpone the flight for weather reasons.  Procedures may well have changed since then and there might be other ways to get the aviation forecast now, though.