Name: High Wind in Alaska, October 22 to 25, 2002
Start: 2002-10-22T07:57
End: 2002-10-25T13:00
Location: Alaska

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 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 Anchorage, AK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Oct 22, 1:15 AM AST, 6 hours 42 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 22, 1:15 AM AST, 6 hours 42 minutes before

SOUTH/SOUTHWEST ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
1200 PM ADT MON OCT 21 2002

ANALYSIS...MAJOR 971 MB SURFACE LOW NOW IN THE FALSE PASS AREA IS
VERTICALLY STACKED WITH A GOOD INTRUSION OF COLD AIR WRAPPING
AROUND THE LOW. EXPECT THIS TO HOLD THE MAIN LOW IN THE WESTERN
ALASKA PENINSULA WHILE THE FRONT PUSHES NORTH AND NORTHEAST
THROUGH TUE NIGHT. A TRIPLE POINT LOW WILL LIKELY FORM JUST WEST
OF NUNIVAK ISLAND BY THAT TIME AS THE FRONT EXTENDS ACROSS
SOUTHWEST ALASKA SOME WHAT DIFFUSE TO THE WESTERN KODIAK ISLAND
AREA THEN EXTENDS TO THE SOUTHEAST AS A STRONG FRONT. SIGNIFICANT
WARM AIR OVER RUNNING OF A SHALLOW ARCTIC FRONTAL BOUNDARY OVER
SOUTHWEST ALASKA WILL DISPLACE THE ARCTIC AIR RESULTING IN SNOW
FOLLOWED BY BRIEF PATCHY FREEZING RAIN AND CHANGING OVER TO ALL
RAIN OVER THE SOUTHWEST ZONES TUE. A STRONG SURFACE GRADIENT WILL
RESULT IN WARNING LEVEL WINDS ACROSS THE CHUGACH MOUNTAINS TUE
BUT EXPECT WINDS OVER THE SOUTHWEST ZONES TO REMAIN IN THE
ADVISORY LEVELS. AS THE FRONT PROGRESSES EAST TO THE KODIAK
ISLAND AREA A STRONG SOUTH TO SOUTHEAST FLOW WITH LONG FETCH FROM
THE NORTH PACIFIC WILL FUNNEL MOISTURE INTO THE SOUND. THEREFORE
EXPECT A MODERATE TO HEAVY RAINFALL IN THE SOUND BY TUE NIGHT
COUPLED WITH STRONG EAST TO SOUTHEAST SURFACE WINDS.

ON THE WEST SIDE OF THIS SYSTEM EXPECT THE STRONG NORTH TO
NORTHWEST WINDS OVER THE ALEUTIANS TO GRADUALLY DIMINISH THROUGH
TUE INTO WED. THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS REMAIN IN THE STRONG NORTH
WINDS AT LEAST THROUGH TUE MORNING AND WILL CERTAINLY HAVE WINDS
IN THE HIGH END OF THE ADVISORY LEVEL IF NOT STAYING AT WARNING
LEVELS INTO THE EVENING BEFORE DIMINISHING TO ADVISORY LEVELS BY
TUE NIGHT.

FORECASTS...

.AFC...WATCH/WARNING SUMMARY
PUBLIC...HIGH WIND WARNING FOR ZONES 101 125 185 195.
MARINE...STORM 2B 3A 12A 12A1 15. GALE 2C 2C4 3BC 4 5AB 6AB 8
               12B.
FIRE WEATHER...DONE

*** OCT 02

Event by event

1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Wrn P.W. Snd & Kenai Mtns

When: October 22, 7:57 AM AST to October 25, 1:00 PM AST
Where: Wrn P.W. Snd & Kenai Mtns forecast zone
Measured: 82 kt (94 mph)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

One low pressure system moved south of Dutch Harbor on the 21st...slowed and deepened. A second low moved along a similar track and reinforced the initial system into the 25th. The pressure gradient with the initial low caused strong pre-frontal winds in the Portage Valley on the 22nd. Winds continued in excess of 60 mph into the 25th as the reinforcing low moving up from the southwest kept a tight pressure gradient through the northeast part of Zone 125.

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: 5319844.