Winter Storm and High Wind in Alaska, December 4 to 5, 2000

A strong 963 mb low 480 miles south of the Alaska Peninsula moved north to Chignik late Monday, weakening to a 971 mb center. The low then looped north northeast, weakening to a 991 mb center in upper Cook Inlet Tuesday afternoon. The front associated with this storm moved into the southeast Alaska Peninsula and southern Kodiak Island Monday afternoon, preceded by brisk easterly winds. By early Tuesday, the front lay in a weakening arc through the extreme northeast Kuskokwim Valley through eastern Prince William Sound and southeast toward the Panhandle of the State.Pre-frontal easterly winds gusts first reached 60 + mph around Portage at about 4:30 pm Monday, peaking at 75 mph between 6 and 7 pm. Wind gusts diminished to less than 60 mph just after 9 pm Monday at the site.In zone 111 (Anchorage Municipality) pre-frontal wind gusts of 48 mph were reported at the Glen Alps site. At Site Summit, a Forest Service/BLM remote site just above the 3900 foot level, pre-frontal wind gusts of 128 mph were reported at 9 pm, along with sustained winds of 72 mph. Winds diminished at the Site Summit location just before midnight as the front moved through.In zone 135, peak pre-frontal winds at Middleton Island first went above 60 mph at 6 pm, peaking at 64 mph between 6:55 and 7:15 pm the same day. Winds diminished significantly there with frontal passage at around 9 pm. Wind gusts at the Prince William Sound Science Center reached 51 mph, however these are reportedly low due to site exposure and the wearing out of the low end reporting system. Winds at the southeast Sound buoy briefly gusted 60 mph between 10 and 11 pm Monday.Significant winds were reported in the Homer area. Although reports from available sources only picked up maximum easterly winds of 40 mph, this article appeared nearly a month later in the Homer News..."The windstorm that blew through Homer early this week downed 35 to 40 trees and knocked out power for some 14 hours to three villages near the head of Kachemak Bay late Monday.Homer Electric Association line crews then faced treacherously icy roads while attempting to repair the damage and restore power to Kachemak Selo, Razdolna and Voznesenka, according to HEA spokeswoman Sandra Ghormley." Peak winds at the Homer ASOS reached 37 mph between 6 and 7 pm Monday and the Homer Spit Wind reported gusts of at least 40 mph between 4 and 5 pm the same day. "