Extreme Cold in Alaska, March 23 to 24, 2000

Name: Extreme Cold in Alaska, March 23 to 24, 2000
Start: 2000-03-23T15:00
End: 2000-03-24T10:00
Location: Alaska

March 23 to 24, 2000 · NWS AFC · 1 event in 1 county or zone

1 extreme cold/wind chill, as filed by the National Weather Service.

The toll

Deaths: 1
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

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.

Event by event

1 extreme cold/wind chill. Local standard time, as filed.

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Kuskokwim Delta

When: March 23, 3:00 PM AST to March 24, 10:00 AM AST
Where: Kuskokwim Delta forecast zone
Deaths: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: NEWSPAPER

A Napakiak man, Herman Motgin, age 31, died of hypothyermia Friday after he was found next to his snowmachine on the trail between Bethel and Napakiak, a short distance away. He was discovered in a hypothermic state on the trail about three miles north of Napakiak shortly after 8 am Friday, still breathing. He was taken to the Napakiak clinic, a few minutes later. Health officials arrived about five minutes after that. But, by that time, Alaska State troopers said, Motgin was not breathing and had no pulse. Resuscitation commenced and continued for two hours until a doctor from the Bethel hospital arrived and pronounced Motgin dead. The weather around Bethel, according to an article in the Anchorage Daily News, was "...severe Thursday night, with high winds, blowing snow, and wind chills of...(missing in the article..but estimated at near 50 below zero)".

The people who died

As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.

Event	Date	Age	Sex	Where	Kind
Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Kuskokwim Delta	2000-03-24	31	Male	Outside/Open Areas	Direct

What these are

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill: Temperatures or wind chills at or below the local warning criteria, or cold that caused deaths.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Alaska in 2000 Every state in 2000 This day in weather history Warnings in Alaska, March 2000

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: 5131991.