High winds were measured at the Ketchikan airport. Peak gusts to 64 mph (56 knots) occurred on the roof of the terminal building.
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 episode as NWS AJK wrote it up.
High winds were measured at the Ketchikan airport. Peak gusts to 64 mph (56 knots) occurred on the roof of the terminal building. Winds were also estimated to reach 60 mph by spotters in Craig and Hydaburg that morning.
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 Juneau, AK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 29, 9:45 PM AST, 2 hours 5 minutes earlier.
SOUTHEAST ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
945 PM AST SUN DEC 29 2002
.SYNOPSIS...
.SHORT RANGE...CURRENT SATELLITE IMAGERY SHOWS A STRONG OCCLUDED
FRONT MOVING TOWARD THE CHARLOTTES THIS EVENING. THE PARENT LOW
IS A FEW MB LOWER THAN 960 AT THE MOMENT AND THE SYSTEM APPEARS
TO BE PULLING BACK TO THE NORTHWEST FROM ABOUT A 52/140 POSITION
AT 04Z. THE FRONT SHOULD REACH DIXON ENTRANCE EARLY IN THE
MORNING WITH MARINE WINDS OFFSHORE OF THE SOUTHERN PANHANDLE
RISING TO STORM FORCE BEFORE MIDNIGHT. THE WIND ADVISORY FOR ZONE
27..28 AND 29 STILL LOOKS GOOD FOR TONIGHT. SOME WARM ADVECTION
ACROSS THE SOUTHERN PANHANDLE WILL CONTINUE AHEAD OF THE FRONT.
PRECIPITATION COULD START OUT AS LIGHT SNOW BUT WOULD CHANGE TO
RAIN RAPIDLY. FOR THE NORTHEAST GULF AND THE NORTHERN
PANHANDLE..PRECIPITATION WILL BE SPOTTY AND MOSTLY IN THE FORM OF
FLURRIES IN THE EARLY MORNING HOURS DUE TO STRONG DOWNSLOPE AHEAD
OF THE FRONT.
.LONG RANGE...SNOW SPREADING NORTH ALONG PANHANDLE WILL
BEGIN WITH FLURRIES DUE TO THE STRONG DOWNSLOPE. FLURRIES
SHOULD REACH A CAPE SPENCER-JUNEAU LINE ABOUT 18Z MONDAY
MORNING, AND NORTHERN LYNN CANAL ABOUT 00Z TUE AS THE
PARENT LOW OF THE OCCLUSION REACHES 53/142 AT 966 MB.
THE LOW WILL SLOWLY FILL OVER EASTERN GULF OF ALASKA
AND REACH ABOUT 120 NM WEST OF SITKA 00Z WED AT ABOUT
980 MB. A TROUGH ALOFT WILL MOVE SE ACROSS THE AK
INTERIOR REACHING A FAIRBANKS-ANCHORAGE LINE 00Z. THIS
TROUGH ALOFT WILL RESULT IN A SURFACE LOW DEVELOPING NEAR
MIDDLETON ISLAND TUE NIGHT AND WILL ALSO STEAR THE OLD
PARENT ONSHORE NEAR SITKA.
.AJK...WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES
PUBLIC...WIND ADVISORYS FOR ZONES 27..28 AND 29
MARINE...STORM WARNING SOUTHERN 1B
GALES MUCH OF 1A..2A AND REMAINDER OF 1B
RHM JT2 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
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: 5321614, 5321615.