High Wind, St. Lawrence Island-Bering Strait Coast
- When
- December 4, 5:00 AM AST to December 5, 5:00 AM AST
- Where
- St. Lawrence Island-Bering Strait Coast forecast zone
- Measured
- 46 kt (53 mph)
Blizzard and High Wind in Alaska, December 4 to 5, 1997
A strong storm moved northeast over the Bering Sea bringing Blizzard conditions and High Winds to parts of Alaska's West Coast. Blizzard: Zone 1: Point Lay only; Zone 10: Saint Marys, Emmonak; Zone 6: Nome, Unalakleet.
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 7
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 AFG wrote it up.
A strong storm moved northeast over the Bering Sea bringing Blizzard conditions and High Winds to parts of Alaska's West Coast. Blizzard: Zone 1: Point Lay only; Zone 10: Saint Marys, Emmonak; Zone 6: Nome, Unalakleet. Conditions may also have occurred at: Zone 3: Shishmaref, Zone 9: Gambell. High Wind: Zone 3: Kotzebue 37 kt sustained, gust 43 kt; Zone 6: Unalakleet 41 kt sustained, gust 49 kt; Zone 9 Gambell: 37 kt sustained, gust 46 kt. Additionally the associated weather front moving north over mainland Alaska also caused strong winds in the Alaska Range: Zone 7: Big Delta: 42 kt sustained, gust 57 kt.
Event by event
4 high wind, 3 blizzard. Local standard time, as filed.
Blizzard, Yukon Delta
- When
- December 4, 6:00 AM AST to 1:00 PM AST
- Where
- Yukon Delta forecast zone
High Wind, Tanana Valley
- When
- December 4, 11:00 AM AST to 11:50 PM AST
- Where
- Tanana Valley forecast zone
- Measured
- 57 kt (66 mph)
Blizzard, Southern Seward Peninsula-Eastern Norton Sound
- When
- December 4, 1:00 PM AST to December 5, 4:00 AM AST
- Where
- Southern Seward Peninsula-Eastern Norton Sound forecast zone
High Wind, Lower Kobuk Valley-Northern Seward Peninsula
- When
- December 4, 7:00 PM AST to December 5, 3:00 AM AST
- Where
- Lower Kobuk Valley-Northern Seward Peninsula forecast zone
- Measured
- 43 kt (49 mph)
High Wind, Southern Seward Peninsula-Eastern Norton Sound
- When
- December 4, 11:00 PM AST to December 5, 1:00 AM AST
- Where
- Southern Seward Peninsula-Eastern Norton Sound forecast zone
- Measured
- 49 kt (56 mph)
Blizzard, Arctic Slope Coastal
- When
- December 5, 8:00 AM AST to 5:00 PM AST
- Where
- Arctic Slope Coastal forecast zone
What these are
- High Wind
- Sustained non-thunderstorm winds of 40 mph or more for an hour, or gusts of 58 mph or more.
- Blizzard
- Sustained winds or frequent gusts of 35 mph or more with falling or blowing snow that cuts visibility below a quarter mile for three hours or longer.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- High Wind and Heavy Rain in California, December 4 to 5, 1997
- Lightning Strike in Florida, December 4, 1997
- Lake-Effect Snow in Michigan, December 4 to 5, 1997
- Winter Weather in West Virginia, December 4 to 6, 1997
- High Surf in California, December 4 to 7, 1997
- Heavy Snow in Michigan, December 4 to 5, 1997
- Heavy Snow in Iowa, December 4, 1997
- Heavy Snow in Wisconsin, December 4 to 6, 1997
More
Every storm in Alaska in 1997Every state in 1997This day in weather historyWarnings 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: 5620279, 5620274, 5620278, 5620275, 5620276, 5620277, 5620273.