High Wind in Alaska, April 24 to 25, 1997

Name: High Wind in Alaska, April 24 to 25, 1997
Start: 1997-04-24T00:00
End: 1997-04-25T16:00
Location: Alaska

April 24 to 25, 1997 · NWS AFC · 5 events in 5 counties and zones

A strong 967 mb low, 450 miles south of Kodiak late Wednesday, slowly began to weaken Thursday. bringing brisk easterly winds to several areas.

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 5

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS AFC wrote it up.

A strong 967 mb low, 450 miles south of Kodiak late Wednesday, slowly began to weaken Thursday. The moderate front associated with this low...continued to elongate northeastward through the Gulf of Alaska...bringing brisk easterly winds to several areas. Along the northwest side of the low...brisk northwesterly winds were reported along the Alaska Peninsula. On Thursday, wind gusts reached 50 mph at Portage, 47 mph at Dutch Harbor and 40 mph at Middleton Island. In the Kodiak Island area wind gusts reached 52 mph ahead of the front Thursday (as reported by the "Trident"). Also on Thursday, the tug "Situ" recorded wind gusts of 52 mph from the northwest while anchored up in a bay at the extreme western tip of the Alaska Peninsula. Dutch Harbor recorded a wind gust of 47 mph on the same day. On Friday, wind gusts reached 51 mph at Portage and 41 mph at Middleton Island.

Event by event

5 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Kodiak Island-Eastern Alaska Peninsula

When: April 24, 12:00 AM AST to 11:59 PM AST
Where: Kodiak Island-Eastern Alaska Peninsula forecast zone
Measured: 45 kt (52 mph)

High Wind, Western Alaska Peninsula

When: April 24, 12:00 AM AST to 11:59 PM AST
Where: Western Alaska Peninsula forecast zone
Measured: 45 kt (52 mph)

High Wind, Eastern Aleutians

When: April 24, 6:00 AM AST to 7:00 AM AST
Where: Eastern Aleutians forecast zone
Measured: 41 kt (47 mph)

High Wind, Central Gulf Coast

When: April 25, 6:00 AM AST to 7:00 AM AST
Where: Central Gulf Coast forecast zone
Measured: 41 kt (47 mph)

High Wind, Cook Inlet-Susitna Valley

When: April 25, 3:00 PM AST to 4:00 PM AST
Where: Cook Inlet-Susitna Valley forecast zone
Measured: 44 kt (51 mph)

What these are

High Wind: Sustained non-thunderstorm winds of 40 mph or more for an hour, or gusts of 58 mph or more.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Alaska in 1997 Every state in 1997 This day in weather history Warnings in Alaska, April 1997

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5620795, 5620796, 5620793, 5620794, 5620792.