Name: Blizzard and High Wind in Alaska, October 22, 2002
Start: 2002-10-22T11:15
End: 2002-10-22T22:35
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.

As a 976 mb low pressure center moved slowly north over the western Alaska Peninsula, the occlusion associated with the low spread snow and winds over Saint Lawrence Island and the Bering Strait. Blizzard conditions were reported at Savoonga and Tin City. High winds occurred at Gambell where the AWOS reported peak gusts to 66 mph.

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 22, 7:55 AM AST, 3 hours 20 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 22, 7:55 AM AST, 3 hours 20 minutes before

NORTH ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
400 AM ADT TUE OCT 22 2002

THE 972 MB LOW NEAR COLD BAY IS VERTICALLY STACKED AND WILL FILL BY
ABOUT 10 MB AS IT DRIFTS NORTHEAST THROUGH 4AM WED. THE SURFACE LOW
WILL THEN LIFT OUT TO BE ABOUT 100 MILES NORTH OF PASN AT 4AM THU.
EACH OF THE MODELS HAS ONE OF THE WAVES MOVING ALONG THE OCCLUDED
FRONT DEVELOPING INTO A SEPARATE CENTER NEAR PAMY ABOUT 4PM TODAY.
THE NGM ACTUALLY SHOWS A CLOSED LOW TRANSITING SAINT LAWRENCE ISLAND
ON WED...WHILE THE ETA AND AVN TURN THEIRS MORE CYCLONICALLY WESTWARD.
EXCEPT FOR SOME DIFFERENCES IN THE WIND FORECASTS...THESE DETAILS
DONT REALLY MAKE MUCH DIFFERENCE. FOR WHAT ITS WORTH...WERE BUYING
THE ETA AND AVN.

THE OCCLUDED FRONT NOW ASHORE OVER SOUTHWEST ALASKA HAS BEEN SOMETHING
OF A DISAPPOINTMENT AS A PRECIPITATION MAKER SO FAR. WE WILL PROBABLY
FOOL WITH THE QPFS A BIT...BUT OTHERWISE THINGS APPEAR TO BE GOING
MUCH AS EXPECTED. SNOW WILL BE MOVING NORTH WITH THE FRONT TODAY...
AND TURN TO RAIN (OR BECOME MIXED) AT LEAST AS FAR NORTH AS THE SEWARD
PENINSULA. FREEZING RAIN WILL CONTINUE TO BE DESCRIBED AS CHANCE.

WINDS ALOFT OVER THE ALASKA RANGE...WHICH HAVE DIMINISHED OVERNIGHT...
WILL BE PICKING UP AGAIN TODAY. THIS IS A MUCH BETTER SITUATION FOR
THE TRUE CHINOOK WINDS THAN WE HAD YESTERDAY. ZONE 225 WOULD APPEAR TO
BE AT LEAST AS GOOD A CANDIDATE FOR A HIGH WIND WATCH AS ZONE 226.

THE HEAVY SNOW APPEARS TO BE OVER IN ZONE 217. WE CERTAINLY HOPE SO...
AS WERE CANCELING THE WARNING.

.AFG...WATCH/WARNING SUMMARY
PUBLIC...NONE.
MARINE...GALE AREAS 14 AND 9B.
         SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY AREA 10B.

DJH OCT 02

Event by event

1 high wind, 1 blizzard. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, St Lawrence Is. Bering Strait

When: October 22, 11:15 AM AST to 10:35 PM AST
Where: St Lawrence Is. Bering Strait forecast zone
Measured: 57 kt (66 mph)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

Blizzard, St Lawrence Is. Bering Strait

When: October 22, 1:55 PM AST to 3:55 PM AST
Where: St Lawrence Is. Bering Strait forecast zone
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.
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

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: 5323247, 5323248.