Winter Storm and High Wind in Alaska, December 23 to 24, 2001

A strong north Pacific front, moving east and northeast across the Aleutians, was preceded by warning level east and southeast winds across the Aleutians, Pribilofs and Alaska Peninsula late Saturday through Monday morning. The parent low moved to just south of Adak with a 936 mb center Sunday afternoon, beginning to weaken 120 miles south of Umnak Island late Monday. Strong northwesterly winds were observed on the back side of the storm.181 - Visibilities at Cold Bay were frequently 1/4 mile in heavy snow and blowing snow. By late Monday, the front had weakened enough to improve conditions. Reported conditions at Sand Point were not as bad, due to protected location of the AWOS.185 - At Dutch Harbor, winds quickly hit warning levels around noon Sunday. Visibilities as low as 1/4 mile were reported frequently from noon to midnight Sunday. Conditions rapidly improved early Monday afternoon. Frontal passage was around 1 am Monday, however observer reported pre-frontal winds reached at least 90 mph from the east southeast Sunday evening.191 - Adak reported pre-frontal winds of 60 mph Sunday morning at 3 am, peaking at 64 mph a few hours later at 5 am. Atka peaked at 68 mph at 4 am Sunday.195 - Pribilofs experienced both wind and snow, reaching blizzard conditions at times. High winds were recorded from 4:53 pm Sunday through 5 am Monday. No reports on snowfall for the period. Worst visibilities reached 1/4 mile in blowing snow for several hours Monday afternoon and into Monday evening. Event maxima...181 - Southeast gust 58 mph at Cold Bay 6 am - 7 am AST Mon, 12/24/01185 - East southeast gust 90 mph at Dutch Harbor airport 6:30 pm - 8:15 pm AST Sunday.191 - Peak winds reached 68 mph at Atka 4 am AST Sunday.195 - 69 mph gusts across the Pribilofs 9 -10 pm AST Sunday.