High Wind in Alaska, October 7, 2000

Very strong winds were recorded in the Prince William Sound area and parts of Turnagain Arm Saturday. Strong pressure rises moved up the east side of a strong 962 mb low that moved into the southeast Gulf of Alaska early Saturday. The low then curved to the northwest and west, to a position 100 miles south southwest of Middleton Island at 4 pm ADT Saturday. The low then stalled south of Middleton Island and began to weaken rapidly.Easterly winds in several areas literally went from nothing to well above 60 mph in an hour or less.The extreme winds generally lasted 6 hours or less.At the Prince William Sound Science Center in Cordova, a Davis system recorded wind gusts of 81 mph just after pressures bottomed out at 28.68 inches of mercury.At Whittier the C/V "Alaska Adventure", moored at the end of "A" float, reported gusts up to 100 mph just prior to the onset of extremely rapid pressure rises early Saturday night. Winds around Whittier also went from no wind to gusts in excess of 60 mph in literally minutes. Observations, using the F420 wind system at the Whittier harbormaster's office, recorded wind gusts of 58 mph on the 7 pm ADT observation. These gusts, however, were 'eyeballed' in about a 5 minute window... as there is no peak wind system at the observing site.Just to the west, east wind gusts of 79 mph were recorded at the Portage ASOS. Here, too, winds were dead calm for two hours prior to the onset of strong winds.The strong pressure rises moved into the Palmer area from the east, bringing gusts above 60 mph from just after 4pm ADT Saturday to just prior to 6 pm ADT on the same day. Peak winds at the Wasilla Fire Station reached 71 mph between 5 and 5:30 pm ADT Saturday.