Avalanche in Alaska, December 24, 2001

Name: Avalanche in Alaska, December 24, 2001
Start: 2001-12-24T12:00
End: 2001-12-24T18:00
Location: Alaska

December 24, 2001 · NWS AFC · 1 event in 1 county or zone

1 avalanche, as filed by the National Weather Service.

The toll

Deaths: 1
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $500
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, Susitna Valley

When: December 24, 12:00 PM AST to 6:00 PM AST
Where: Susitna Valley forecast zone
Deaths: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage: $500
Reported by: NEWSPAPER

Dwayne Dufford, 30, was snowmachining with severalfriends Monday. He was buried by an avalanche sometime duringthe afternoon...exact details are currently unavailable. He waslocated via an avalanche beacon within 18 minutes of theavalanche, but had already succumbed to his injuries.LOCATION: 20 miles west of Milepost 185 on the ParksHighway, near Cantwell, Alaska.

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, Susitna Valley	2001-12-24	30	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: 5272060.