High Wind in Alaska, May 7 to 9, 1998

Name: High Wind in Alaska, May 7 to 9, 1998
Start: 1998-05-07T00:00
End: 1998-05-09T20:00
Location: Alaska

May 7 to 9, 1998 · NWS AFC · 5 events in 5 counties and zones

moving into the Pribilofs as a 976mb center early Friday. The low then curved northeast to Nunivak Island early Saturday weakening to 986 mbs.

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 deepening low moved across the central Aleutians early Thursday...moving into the Pribilofs as a 976mb center early Friday. The low then curved northeast to Nunivak Island early Saturday weakening to 986 mbs. The low weakened rapidly thereafter. The associated front moved into the Alaska Peninsula and just southwest of the Alaskan coast early Friday, finally weakening in a long arc from the west-central Alaskan Interior to just east of Cordova into the southeastern Gulf of Alaska. Brisk southeast winds, gusting to 60 mph in channelled areas, preceded the front from the Aleutians to the Alaska Peninsula, into the Turnagain Arm and Upper Anchorage Hillside areas of the Cook Inlet zone...and finally into exposed areas adjacent to Prince William Sound, including Cordova and Middleton Island.

Event by event

5 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Aleutian Islands

When: May 7, 12:00 AM AST to May 9, 12:00 PM AST
Where: Aleutian Islands forecast zone
Measured: 52 kt (60 mph)

High Wind, Western Alaska Peninsula

When: May 7, 12:00 PM AST to May 8, 6:00 AM AST
Where: Western Alaska Peninsula forecast zone
Measured: 52 kt (60 mph)

High Wind, Kuskokwim Delta

When: May 7, 6:00 PM AST to May 8, 6:00 AM AST
Where: Kuskokwim Delta forecast zone
Measured: 45 kt (52 mph)

High Wind, Cook Inlet

When: May 8, 12:00 AM AST to May 9, 12:00 PM AST
Where: Cook Inlet forecast zone
Measured: 52 kt (60 mph)

High Wind, Central Gulf Coast

When: May 9, 12:00 AM AST to 8:00 PM AST
Where: Central Gulf Coast forecast zone
Measured: 52 kt (60 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 1998 Every state in 1998 This day in weather history Warnings in Alaska, May 1998

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: 5676565, 5676566, 5676567, 5676568, 5676569.