High Wind in Alaska, April 7 to 8, 1999

An intensifying low, 550 miles southwest of Adak late Tuesday, deepened to 983mbs as it passed the Islands of Four Mountains in the central Aleutians early Wednesday afternoon. The low continued north northeast to Saint Paul Island as a strong 977mb center at 2 am Thursday...drifting northeast and beginning to slowly weaken through the remainder of the day. Strong westerly winds were observed on the 'back side' of the storm...spreading into the Aleutians late Wednesday and into the Pribilofs and Alaska Peninsula Thursday.The front, associated with this strong low, moved into the eastern Aleutians Wednesday afternoon, elongating northeastward to a position from just south of Nunivak Island to the Trinity Islands, just off the southern tip of Kodiak Island, at 10 am Thursday. Brisk east to southeast winds preceded the front, spreading into the Pribilofs and Alaska Peninsula from the eastern Aleutians Wednesday afternoon...and across the southwest coast of Alaska Thursday morning.In zone 11...Adjusted AWOS prefrontal winds reached 63 mph at Mekoryuk and also at Cape Romanzof...both along the immediate coast. Just inland, at the Saint Mary's AWOS, adjusted gusts of 68 mph were recorded late Thursday morning.In zone16...Prefrontal southeast winds spread into the Bristol Bay zone late Wednesday. Gusts reached AWOS adjusted values of 86 mph at Cape Newenham, where winds are locally accelerated by terrain.In zone 19...Brisk westerly winds gusted to 64 mph on the south side of the storm, as reported by the adjusted Cold Bay ASOS. Strongest winds hit Cold Bay Thursday afternoon. Brisk southeast prefrontal winds reached at least 79 mph, as reported from the Cold Bay adjusted ASOS observation.Across zone 21...Brisk southeast winds moved into the Pribilofs ahead of the front. Gusts reached an adjusted ASOS speed of 74 mph at Saint George Island in the very early part of Wednesday evening. Winds on the south side of the low picked up abruptly, with gusts reaching 60 mph at Saint George just before 3pm Thursday. In zone 20...Prefrontal, southeast winds from 40 to 50 mph were reported at nearly all central and eastern Aleutian reporting points, Wednesday. Strongest gusts were recorded at Dutch Harbor (50 mph) between noon and 1pm. Strong westerly winds spread into the eastern Aleutians behind the storm. Gusts reached 96 mph at Dutch Harbor between 12:55pm Thursday and 1:15pm Thursday.