High Wind in Alaska, February 7, 2001

A 960 mb low moved across the Western Aleutians and into the Bering Sea Wednesday. Winds peaked at 73 mph at Shemya late Wednesday morning, gusting in the 60+ mph range from early Wednesday morning through Wednesday afternoon. Frequent blizzard conditions were also reported at the site, as intense showers moved through. ASOS reports also recorded freezing rain, heavy rain, heavy snow and blowing snow as precipitation moved rapidly by the sensor.Southerly wind gusts also reached minimal warning criteria (60 mph) at Adak briefly Wednesday morning. Heavy precipitation was also reported at Adak. Atka recorded southeast winds just under warning levels late Wednesday morning. Winds at Saint Paul, gusted south southeast at 61 mph, as reported by the ASOS, at 6:33 pm Wednesday.The same storm smashed windows of three crab fishing boats and slowed the progress of the rest of the opilio crab fleet. Fortunately, repairs were temporarily made to enable the vessels to head to safe harbor. Buoy 46035 was rendered inoperable due to the heavy seas generated by the system, leaving the entire High Seas part of the Bering Sea 'buoyless'! The log-carrying cargo ship "Leo Forrest" sustained damage and major cargo loss about 400 miles north of Adak Thursday as the storm zeroed in on the vessel. Although pretty common and not particularly impressive by Alaskan standards, the storm caused wind gusts of 65 mph to 80+ mph early Thursday and seas of 35+ feet. As weather conditions pummeled the 551 foot ship, power was temporarily lost and approximately 2300 logs 'decided to abandon' ship from the starboard side. The unbalanced load caused the vessel to list 10 degrees to port, with the bow 1 meter down. By Friday afternoon the storm abated, allowing a more safe passage to Dutch Harbor for repairs. Pictures of the ship in port revealed that numerous logs were still hanging off the vessel.