Blizzard in Alaska, November 23 to 24, 2002

Name: Blizzard in Alaska, November 23 to 24, 2002
Start: 2002-11-23T18:15
End: 2002-11-24T01:55
Location: Alaska

November 23 to 24, 2002 · NWS AFG · 1 event in 1 county or zone

A 977 mb low moved from southwest Alaska to St. Lawrence Island during the night of the 23rd, bringing increasing winds and snow to zone 213 resulting in blizzard conditions at Gambell.

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.

A 977 mb low moved from southwest Alaska to St. Lawrence Island during the night of the 23rd, bringing increasing winds and snow to zone 213 resulting in blizzard conditions at Gambell. Wind gusts reached 59 mph at the Gambell AWOS.

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 Nov 23, 2:30 PM AST, 3 hours 45 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Nov 23, 2:30 PM AST, 3 hours 45 minutes before

NORTH ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
230 PM AST SAT NOV 23 2002

THE LONG WAVE PATTERN CONSISTS OF A HIGH AMPLITUDE TROUGH OVER THE
BERING AND NORTH PACIFIC AND A RIDGE OVER WESTERN CANADA WITH
STRONG SOUTHERLY FLOW ALOFT OVER MAINLAND ALASKA. THIS PATTERN WILL
PERSIST THROUGH TUESDAY. WARM MOIST AIR FROM THE SUB-TROPICS IS
MOVING NORTH OVER THE STATE AS A RESULT. A SERIES OF STRONG SHORT
WAVES WILL MOVE NORTH OVER ALASKA WITH EACH ONE PRODUCING CHINOOK
WINDS OVER ALASKA RANGE AND PRECIPITATION TO THE NORTH AND WEST. BY MID-WEEK
THE SHORT WAVES BEGIN TO DAMPEN THE RIDGE WITH THE FLOW BECOMING WEAKER
FROM THE SOUTHWEST...RESULTING IN COOLER TEMPERATURES.

THE MODELS ALL SHOW SIMILAR PATTERNS...BUT INITIALIZE TOO WEAK ON THE
500 MB LOW IN THE BERING. THIS SHOULD CAUSE THE SURFACE LOW NOW
MOVING INTO THE BERING TO MAINTAIN ITS DEPTH...BUT NOT DEEPEN FURTHER
SINCE IT IS ALREADY OCCLUDING. AS A RESULT FAVOR A SOLUTION BETWEEN
THE AVN AND ETA ON DEPTH OF THAT FEATURE SIMILAR TO THE ECMF. MODELS
DIVERGE ON DETAILS OF FOLLOWING STORMS FOR MONDAY AND TUESDAY...
BUT ALL SHOW A STRONG SHORT WAVE MOVING NORTH OVER ALASKA MONDAY NIGHT
AND TUESDAY.

A 980 LOW NEAR PACZ WILL MOVE NEAR PAGM 3PM SAT AS A 993 MB LOW AND
THEN SLOWLY WEAKEN. AN ASSOCIATED OCCLUDED FRONT FROM PAGM-PATC WITH A
WARM FRONT FROM PATC-PAPO-PABA AND A COLD FRONT FROM PATC-PABE-PAKN.
BY 3AM SUN OCCLUDED FRONT PAGM-PAPO WITH WARM MOVING ALOFT FROM
PAPO-TO NORTH OF PABR AND A COLD FRONT FROM PAPO-PAMC. BY 3PM SUN
OCCLUDED FRONT FROM PAGM-995 LOW DEVELOPING NEAR PAPO AND THEN JUST
NORTH OF ARCTIC COAST WITH THE COLD FRONT DISSIPATING PABA-PARL.
HEAVIEST SNOW AND STRONGEST WINDS WILL BE ALONG THE OCCLUDED FRONT
WITH SEVERAL INCHES ON SNOW. LIGHT SNOW AND AND BLOWING SNOW ALONG
WITH EAST WINDS 25-35KT AHEAD OF THE WARM FRONT WITH FREEZING RAIN
POSSIBLE ALONG THE WARM FRONT. MOST OF THE SNOW WILL BE IN WESTERN
ARCTIC SO WILL ISSUE BLIZ WARNING FOR ZONE 201 FOR TONIGHT.
SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS ALONG THE COLD FRONT WILL DIMINISH AS IT MOVES
INLAND AND WEAKENS. STRONG CHINOOK WINDS OVER THE ALASKA RANGE WILL
DIMINISH SUN AM AS THE COLD FRONT PASSES.

ANOTHER OCCLUDED FRONT IN THE NORTH PACIFIC WILL MOVE NORTH TO
PACZ-PATA-PAEG BY 3AM MON AND DISSIPATE FROM PAOM-PASC 3PM MON.
EXPECT LIGHT SNOW AND POSSIBLE FREEZING RAIN WITH THIS FRONT IN
THE WESTERN INTERIOR AND WEST COAST WITH THIS FEATURE...AND A MODERATE
ALASKA RANGE CHINOOK.

A VERY STRONG SHORT WAVE WILL NORTH TO THE ALASKA RANGE MONDAY NIGHT
AND TO THE ARCTIC COAST TUESDAY. THIS WILL BRING ANOTHER STRONG
ALASKA RANGE CHINOOK MONDAY NIGHT AND TUE...AND MIXED PRECIPITATION
TO THE WESTERN INTERIOR AND WEST COAST.

.AFG...WATCH/WARNING SUMMARY
PUBLIC...HI WIND ZONES 223...225...226 TONIGHT.
         BLIZZARD 201 TONIGHT
         BLIZZARD 213 TONIGHT.
MARINE...GALE 14 AND 9B. SCA/BRISK 9A, 10A, 10B,11A,,11B.

JB NOV 02

Event by event

1 blizzard. Local standard time, as filed.

Blizzard, St Lawrence Is. Bering Strait

When: November 23, 6:15 PM AST to November 24, 1:55 AM AST
Where: St Lawrence Is. Bering Strait forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

What these are

Blizzard: Sustained winds or frequent gusts of 35 mph or more with falling or blowing snow that cuts visibility below a quarter mile for three hours or longer.

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, November 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: 5322439.