Flash Flood in Alaska, July 6, 2002

Name: Flash Flood in Alaska, July 6, 2002
Start: 2002-07-06T04:30
End: 2002-07-06T10:20
Location: Alaska

July 6, 2002 · NWS AFG · 1 event in 1 county or zone

5, closing the highway briefly, and causing it to be only one lane for a large portion of the day thereafter. Denali National Park dispatch also reported some visitors were stranded on a river island due to the high water.

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
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.

What happened

The episode as NWS AFG wrote it up.

Heavy Rains on the night of the 5th caused mudslides on the Parks Highway at mile 238.5, closing the highway briefly, and causing it to be only one lane for a large portion of the day thereafter. Denali National Park dispatch also reported some visitors were stranded on a river island due to the high water.

What forecasters said that day

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 Fairbanks, AK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 6, 3:00 AM AST, 1 hour 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 6, 3:00 AM AST, 1 hour 30 minutes before

NORTH ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
400 AM ADT SAT JUL 6 2002

DEEP POLAR VORTEX 400 NM NORTH OF BARROW WITH MOIST WESTERLY
FLOW OVER NORTHERN HALF OF ALASKA CONTINUES TO BRING WET COOL
WEATHER TO NORTHERN HALF OF STATE. THIS PATTERN SHIFTING SLIGHTLY
NORTH TODAY...AND MUCH MORE SO ON SUNDAY. COLD AIR NOW DROPPING
SOUTH FROM POLAR VORTEX OVER BERING SEA WILL CAUSE LONG WAVE TROUGH
TO DEVELOP FROM BERING INTO THE WESTERN GULF OF ALASKA TODAY AND
DEEPEN ON SUNDAY. RIDGE ALOFT BUILDING OVER SOUTHERN ALASKA TODAY
THROUGH SUNDAY AS A RESULT. THIS CAUSING POLAR VORTEX TO MOVE EAST
SUNDAY. RIDGE WILL REMAIN OVER INTERIOR ALASKA THROUGH MUCH OF
COMING WEEK BRINGING RETURN TO WARMER AND DRIER WEATHER.

MODELS SHOW SIMILAR SYNOPTIC PATTERNS INITIALLY, BUT ETA DROPS
MOST OF ENERGY OVER BERING SEA SOUTH INTO DEVELOPING
LONG WAVE TROUGH, AND BUILDS A STRONGER RIDGE ALOFT OVER
SOUTHERN ALASKA THAN AVN AS A RESULT. PREFER ETA SOLLUTION
AS SATELLITE PICTURE INDICATES THIS HAPPENING NOW.

A WARM FRONT FROM FAIRBANKS TO A WAVE NEAR NOME AND A TRAILING
COLD FRONT FROM NOME SOUTHWEST, WILL MOVE TO EAGLE TO A WAVE NEAR
BETTLES AT 4PM SATURDAY WITH THE COLD FRONT FROM BETTLES TO NOME.
THIS FRONT WILL THEN DRIFT NORTH AND DISSIPATE OVER THE SOUTH SLOPES
OF THE BROOKS RANGE SUNDAY. FROM .10 TO .20 INCH OF RAIN WILL FALL
ALONG THE WARM FRONT WITH UP TO .30 INCH ALONG THE WAVE. JUST LIGHT
RAIN WILL FALL ALONG THE COLD FRONT.

AN UNSTABLE AIRMASS DEVELOPING SOUTH OF THE FRONT WILL ALLOW ISOLATED
PM THUNDERSHOWERS TODAY AND SCATTERED THUNDERSHOWERS ON SUNDAY.

AN ARCTIC COLD FRONT FROM JUST EAST OF BARROW TO POINT HOPE NOW FORMING AN
INSTANT OCCLUSION AND MOVING TO BARTER ISLAND TO BETTLES BY 4PM
SATURDAY, AND EAST OF THE ALCAN BORDER SATURDAY NIGHT. RAIN DEVELOPING
AHEAD OF THIS FEATURE CHANGING TO SNOW ALONG IT. SNOW SHOULD REMAIN
ON NORTH SIDE OF BROOKS.

.AFG...WATCH/WARNING SUMMARY
PUBLIC...ZONE 222 MINOR FLOODING AT MILE 37.2 CHSR.
MARINE...NONE.

JB JUL 02

Event by event

1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Denali

When: July 6, 4:30 AM AST to 10:20 AM AST
Where: Denali County, Central Portion
Reported by: DEPT OF HIGHWAYS

What these are

Flash Flood: Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Alaska in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Alaska, July 2002

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: 5306638.