Heavy Snow and High Wind in Alaska, March 25 to 27, 2000

Northerly wind gusts briefly reached 60 mph across the extreme eastern Aleutians Saturday, as reported around the Dutch Harbor airport just after noon behind a moderate arctic front just to the southeast of the area.As the front continued slowly east, brisk northwesterly winds developed around Kodiak Island, with the Booth Lake remote site gusting as high as 62 mph at 8 am Sunday.Further north, at the Augustine C-Man site in lower Cook Inlet, strong westerly wind gusts peaked at 77 mph at 1am Monday. Winds at the site first began gusting over 60 mph at 1 pm Sunday...then diminished below 60 mph by 3 am Monday. Just a bit further north, gusty northwest winds reached 61 mph at Big River Lakes, along with wind chills near 20 below. Areas of freezing spray were also reported across the open waters of Cook Inlet in the strong wind areas.By early Sunday morning, snow began to develop just northwest of the arctic front, spreading into most of the Kenai Peninsula around midday. The snow continued to spread north, in response to a frontal system moving northwest through Prince William Sound and interacting with the arctic air covering much of the area. Snowfall across the Kenai Peninsula reached just below 1 foot in some locations. Around Anchorage, amounts ranged from a relatviely slight 4.7 inches near the Anchorage International Airport to between 18 and 24 inches along the Upper Anchorage hillside. 15.8 inches of snow was recorded at the Alaska Pacific University site on the 27th. Most of the snow along the Anchorage hillside fell Monday from midnight to noon. Fortunately, due to Seward's Day, traffic on the road system was light.The Alyeska Ski Resort reported snowfall totals of 18 inches at mountain top.Around Moose Pass, along the Seward Highway, a foot of new snow was reported at 9 am Monday.