Blizzard and High Wind in Alaska, February 27 to 28, 2002

A low, 250 miles south of Sand Point late Friday morning, moved by Sand Point as an intense 976 mb low Wednesday evening. The low continued north through Bristol Bay, beginning to rapidly weaken 60 miles north of Dillingham at 3 am Thursday. By 3 pm Thursday, the low had moved into the central Seward Peninsula at 1004 mbs. Strong winds were observed on the south and east sides of the storm.The front, associated with the low, was initially preceded by gusty southeast winds. At 3 am AST Thursday, the front lay in a northwest-southeast line through Seward. By 3 pm AST Thursday it extended from the eastern Alaska mainland to just offshore of Southeast Alaska...no longer posing a wind threat to areas around Prince William Sound.101 - Call from Glen Alps observer just after 7 pm AST Wednesday relayed that wind gusts had reached 55 mph from the southeast. Peak wind recorded at the site was southeast 75 mph at 10 am AST Thursday. Gusts at the McHugh Creek RWIS site reached into the lower 50 mph range, the Upper Huffman RWIS site around 45 mph, with a 56 mph gust reported at the Muldoon mesonet site at 5:54 am AST Thursday. Although some trees and tree limbs were blown down, there were no reports of roof damage.125 - Warning level winds (60+ mph) blew at the Portage ASOS from Wednesday evening through early Thursday. Peak winds at Max's Mountain (3300'), around the Alyeska ski resort, peaked at 106 mph around 2 am AST Thursday. 83 mph gusts from the east southeast were recorded at Portage at 11:53 pm AST Wednesday.161 - Winds right with the front gusted easterly at or just above 60 mph at both Iliamna and Koliganek. Peak easterly winds reached 62 mph at 11:46 pm AST Wednesday. Gusty south and southwest winds followed the low, as strong pressure rises in excess of 13 mbs/3 hours moved across the area. Winds at Pilot Point reached a peak of 83 mph on the outskirts of the village on the 'back side' of the storm between 1 am AST and 3 am AST Thursday. The new Post Office lost a portion of its tin roof. Winds at Ugashek Lake reached at least 80 mph (wind gauge only reads up to 80 mph), while the village of Ugashek reported 66 mph winds. 171 - Pre-frontal winds across the Island were generally reported in the advisory level (40-59 mph). Post-frontal south southeast winds, on the east side of the storm, reached 64 mph between 7 and 8 pm AST Wednesday at Sitkinak. Winds turned more southwesterly as the low moved further north, diminishing below 60 mph after 2 am AST Thursday.181 - Blizzard conditions were first reported at Cold Bay at 11:28 am Wednesday. Blizzard conditions abated somewhat by 7 pm...however north wind gusts reached 56 mph at 8 pm AST Wednesday. Visibilities at Sand Point were as low as ½ mile briefly.