Avalanche in Alaska, December 12, 2001

Name: Avalanche in Alaska, December 12, 2001
Start: 2001-12-12T00:00
End: 2001-12-12T23:59
Location: Alaska

December 12, 2001 · NWS AFC · 1 event in 1 county or zone

1 avalanche, as filed by the National Weather Service.

The toll

Deaths: 1
Injuries: 1
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 avalanche. Local standard time, as filed.

Avalanche, Sern P.W. Snd

When: December 12, 12:00 AM AST to 11:59 PM AST
Where: Sern P.W. Snd forecast zone
Deaths: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Injuries: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: NEWSPAPER

Fresh snowfall and apparent wind loading occurred during the days before the event. Five people were out on snowmachines in the Cordova area. One snowmachine became stuck, two individuals attempted to dig it out. An avalanche quickly ensued. Two were buried. One person was dug out and survived. The body of the other, Donovan J. Lee, 37, was recovered from under 3 feet of snow Thursday morning. The avalanche occurred between Heney and Hartney Creeks.

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
Avalanche, Sern P.W. Snd	2001-12-12	37	Male	Outside/Open Areas	Direct

What these are

Avalanche: A mass of snow sliding down a mountainside that caused a death, an injury or damage.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Alaska in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Alaska, December 2001

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: 5273342.