High Wind in Alaska, December 18 to 19, 1997

Name: High Wind in Alaska, December 18 to 19, 1997
Start: 1997-12-18T00:00
End: 1997-12-19T10:00
Location: Alaska

December 18 to 19, 1997 · NWS AFC · 4 events in 4 counties and zones

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 4

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 moderate front curving north through the Gulf of Alaska brought wind gusts of 83 mph to Middleton Island between 10 and 11am. Strong easterly winds, reaching speeds between 55 and 65 mph preceded the front around Cordova and over portions of Prince William Sound (gusts of 81 mph and seas 25 ft reported by the oil tanker "Prince William Sound"). Brisk northerly winds also blew across areas of southcentral Alaska and Kodiak Island around the parent 960 mb low center, which tracked just east of Kodiak Island, weakening late Thursday and Friday. At the Portage Visitor Center, wind gusts reached 71 mph just before noon Thursday. Further north at Palmer, northeast wind gusts originating off of the Matanuska Glacier reached speeds of 59 mph. On the back side of the low, brisk west to northwest winds were reported. Gusts reached 69 mph at Booth Lake on Kodiak Island early Thursday and 46 mph at the Homer airport between 6 and 7am Friday.

Event by event

4 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Central Gulf Coast

When: December 18, 12:00 AM AST to 6:00 PM AST
Where: Central Gulf Coast forecast zone
Measured: 72 kt (83 mph)

High Wind, Kodiak Island-Eastern Alaska Peninsula

When: December 18, 5:00 AM AST to 9:00 AM AST
Where: Kodiak Island-Eastern Alaska Peninsula forecast zone
Measured: 60 kt (69 mph)

High Wind, Cook Inlet

When: December 18, 10:00 AM AST to December 19, 10:00 AM AST
Where: Cook Inlet forecast zone
Measured: 62 kt (71 mph)

High Wind, Susitna Valley

When: December 18, 11:00 AM AST to 2:00 PM AST
Where: Susitna Valley forecast zone
Measured: 51 kt (59 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, December 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: 5620811, 5620813, 5620814, 5620812.