Name: High Wind in Alaska, October 20 to 21, 2002
Start: 2002-10-20T21:00
End: 2002-10-21T06:53
Location: Alaska

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 2

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.

Behind a northward-moving occlusion, a ridge of high pressure built over the Copper River Basin creating strong south winds through and near Alaska Range passes. High winds were reported at Delta Junction, where the ASOS recorded a peak gust from the south of 54 mph. Winds through passes of zone 226 - the eastern Alaska Range, are estimated from pressure gradient.

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 Oct 20, 6:27 PM AST, 2 hours 33 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 20, 6:27 PM AST, 2 hours 33 minutes before

NORTH ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
230 PM ADT SUN OCT 20 2002

STRONG UPPER RIDGE FROM ELLESMERE ISLAND TO THE OREGON COAST REMAINS
IN PLACE TODAY. DEEP ARCTIC VORTEX THAT WAS OVER THE NORTH SLOPE
YESTERDAY HAS SPLIT AS FORECAST...WITH SKINNY ELONGATED TROUGH FROM
NEAR THE POLE TO NUNIVAK ISLAND.

AT THE SURFACE...984 MB LOW NEAR CORDOVA WILL DISSIPATE TONIGHT. THE
ASSOCIATED FRONT WILL DISSIPATE TONIGHT OVER THE INTERIOR. ARCTIC
BOUNDARY...REPRESENTING THE SYNOPTIC SCALE COLD AIR WILL BE ALONG
A KALTAG TO LONELY LINE BY 12Z...AND PROBABLY A LITTLE FARTHER WEST
THEREAFTER. DEVELOPING 994 MB LOW WELL SOUTH OF ADAK WILL BE A 972 MB
CENTER NEAR COLD BAY MONDAY AFTERNOON. THE ASSOCIATED OCCLUDED FRONT
WILL MOVE INTO SOUTHWEST MAINLAND MONDAY EVENING.

12Z MODELS IN FAIRLY GOOD AGREEMENT ON HANDLING OVERALL (SLOW) EVOLUTION
OF WEATHER FEATURES AFFECTING FORECAST AREA. STRONG UPPER RIDGE WELL
EAST OF ALASKA WILL SLOWLY RETROGRADE TO WEST OF BANKS ISLAND BY
MIDWEEK WHILE CLOSED LOW ALOFT BECOMES ANCHORED OVER SOUTHEASTERN
BERING SEA. NO SERIOUS DIFFERENCES IN TODAYS MID-RANGE MODELS...WITH
UPPER HIGH ANCHORED SOMEWHERE NEAR BANKS ISLAND AND BROAD LOW OVER
MOST ALL OF THE BERING SEA THROUGH THIS WEEK.

FOR THE NORTH SLOPE...YESTERDAYS IDEA OF LOW DEVELOPING OVER EASTERN
BEAUFORT SEA HAS WORKED OUT...EXCEPT THAT THE LOW IS RIGHT NEAR BARTER
ISLAND...SO WINDS NOT NEARLY AS STRONG. SNOWFALL SHOULD MOVE WESTWARD
AS ARCTIC BOUNDARY MOVES WEST. AT THIS POINT I DO NOT LOOK FOR
STRONG WINDS ONSHORE ANYWHERE NEXT FEW DAYS.

FOR THE WEST COAST...COLD AIR IN PLACE WILL BE REPLACED OVER THE
NEXT FEW DAYS WITH THE MUCH MILDER AIR FROM THE SOUTH AND EAST. MODELS
TODAY BRING THE WARM AIR ABOUT TO THE BERING STRAIT BY MID WEEK...THOUGH
PERHAPS NOT NORTH OF A DIOMEDE TO KIVALINA TO BARROW LINE BY WEDNESDAY
MORNING. HIGH SURF CONTINUES FOR SHISHMAREF AREA.

FOR THE INTERIOR...ARCTIC BOUNDARY...FAIRLY WELL REFLECTED IN THE
1000-850 MB THICKNESS GRADIENT...WILL CONTINUE TO MARCH WESTWARD. COLD
AIR TRAPPED IN SOME EASTERN VALLEYS  IS BEING SLOWLY ERODED AWAY...AND
WITH DEEP STORM NEAR COLD BAY BECOMING THE DOMINATE LOW...I EXPECT
THAT EVEN VALLEY AREAS STILL COOL TODAY WILL HAVE MILDER TEMPERATURES
FOR MONDAY AND TUESDAY. BEST CHANCE TO KEEP COLD AIR TRAPPED WILL BE
YUKON FLATS AND EASTERN BROOKS RANGE VALLEYS.

.AFG...WATCH/WARNING SUMMARY
MARINE...GALE 10B...WRN 11A. SCA 14...9A AND 9B...ERN 11A.
PUBLIC...NONE

RT OCT 02

Event by event

2 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Ne. Slopes of the Ern Ak Rng

When: October 20, 9:00 PM AST to October 21, 5:00 AM AST
Where: Ne. Slopes of the Ern Ak Rng forecast zone
Measured: 52 kt (60 mph)
Reported by: UNKNOWN

High Wind, Deltana and Tanana

When: October 21, 12:53 AM AST to 6:53 AM AST
Where: Deltana and Tanana forecast zone
Measured: 47 kt (54 mph)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

What these are

High Wind: Sustained non-thunderstorm winds of 40 mph or more for an hour, or gusts of 58 mph or more.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Alaska in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Alaska, October 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: 5323246, 5323245.