1 heavy snow, as filed by the National Weather Service.
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.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Anchorage, AK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 21, 9:00 PM AST, 4 hours earlier.
SOUTH/SOUTHWEST ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION 900 PM AST SAT DEC 21 2002 ANALYSIS...MODELS IN GOOD AGREEMENT THROUGH 36 HOURS THEN THE SOLUTION DIVERGE. I PREFER THE ETA MODEL WHICH KEEP THE MAIN LOW IN THE OVER THE COOK INLET AND SENDS A SECONDARY LOW INTO THE INTERIOR. FORECASTS...THE 984 MB LOW SOUTHWEST OF KODIAK ISLAND WILL DISSIPATES LATER TONIGHT. THE REMAINS OF THE FRONT OVER THE KENAI PENINSULA AND THE CENTRAL GULF COAST WILL DISSIPATE AFTER MIDNIGHT. RAIN AND SNOW OVER THE PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND WILL BECOME SHOWERS AFTER MIDNIGHT. THE 981 MB LOW 300 MILES SOUTH OF SAND POINT WILL MOVE TO NEAR KODIAK AND DEEPEN TO 973 MB SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND WILL DRIFT INTO THE LOWER COOK INLET AND WEAKEN TO 982 MB MONDAY AFTERNOON. THE FRONT WILL MOVE INTO THE GULF OF ALASKA SUNDAY AND WILL GO ALOFT AS IT MOVES INTO SOUTH CENTRAL ALASKA SUNDAY NIGHT AND THE CENTRAL INTERIOR MONDAY. MOST OF THE MOISTURE ASSOCIATED WITH THIS NEXT SYSTEM WILL COME UP OVER THE CENTRAL GULF COAST...THE COPPER RIVER BASIN AND SOUTHEAST ALASKA. SNOW MAY BE HEAVY AT TIMES THROUGH THOMPSON PASS AND ALONG THE NORTH AND WEST SIDE OF THE COPPER RIVER BASIN SUNDAY AND SUNDAY NIGHT. .AFC...WATCH/WARNING SUMMARY PUBLIC...NONE. MARINE...GALE 2B..2B1..2C..3ABC..4..12A. NM DEC 02
1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Heavy snow fell in the Thompson Pass area of the zone from early Sunday through Monday afternoon. Snowfall totals reached 51 inches during this period.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Alaska in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Alaska, December 2002
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: 5323505.