1 high wind, as filed by the National Weather Service.
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.
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 Sep 24, 11:00 AM AST, 3 hours 8 minutes earlier.
SOUTH/SOUTHWEST ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
1200 PM ADT WED SEP 24 2002
ANALYSIS...NOW BEGINNING TO WEAKEN 1006 MB LOW NOW MOVING INTO
KENAI FIORDS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE NORTH NORTHEAST ABOUT 20 KTS
AND BEGIN WEAKEN. SYSTEM HAS APPARENT SUBTROPICAL MOISTURE
ASSOCIATED WITH IT...AND IS PRODUCING VERY SIGNIFICANT RAINFALL
ALONG SOUTHERN EXPOSURES. THIS HAS PROMPTED SMALL STREAM FLOOD
ADVISORIES IN SEWARD AND HOMER/NINILCHIK/ANCHOR POINT AREAS.
KENAI FIORD AREA UNDOUBTEDLY HAS RECEIVED EVEN MORE RAIN.
ADDITIONALLY...GALE EASTERLY WINDS PRECEED THE SYSTEM...WITH
LOCAL STORM GUSTS WHERE CHANNELED BY TERRAIN SUCH AS TURNAGAIN
ARM AND UPPER ANCHORAGE HILLSIDE. THESE WINDS SHOULD DIMINISH
PRETTY QUICKLY TONIGHT AS SYSTEM MOVES THROUGH.
APPARENT SECOND FRONTAL LOW FURTHER SOUTH...JUST EAST OF KODIAK
AT THE MOMENT...APPEARS HEADING MORE NORTHEAST UNDER FIRST
SYSTEM...WILL LIKELY CONTINUE HEAVY RAIN AND SIGNIFICANT EASTERLY
WIND AT ENTRANCE TO PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND MARINE AREA AND AROUND
SOUTHEAST PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND LAND ZONE FOR REMAINDER OF
TONIGHT.
INTENSE 952 MB STORM NOW JUST NORTHEAST OF AMCHITKA...STILL
POSSESSES TROPICAL MOISTURE AND EXTREMELY STRONG WINDS. BAND OF
HURRICANE FORCE WINDS JUST IN ADVANCE OF EX-FEEDER BAND..NOW
FRONT..AND ABOUT 240 MILES SOUTH SEMI-CIRCLE OF STORM. STORM
WINDS ALSO EXTEND GOOD 240 MILES WEST QUADRANT OF SYSTEM ALSO.
FORECASTS...
AS FIRST SYSTEM APPROACHING KENAI FIORDS MOVES NORTH NORTHEAST
AND BECOMES DIFFUSE INLAND TONIGHT...SECOND ONE APPEARS HEADED
TOWARD MIDDLETON ISLAND BY 12Z WEDNESDAY...THEN NORTHEAST INLAND
AND WEAKENING THEREAFTER.
INTENSE STORM MOVING NORTHEAST EXPECTED TO BE JUST SOUTHWEST OF
SAINT PAUL ISLAND 12Z THURSDAY. STRONG WINDS AROUND SOUTH SEMIR
FRONT MOVING OUT AHEAD OF STORM...SLOWLY LOSING PUNCH...EXPECTED
TO EXTEND THROUGH YUKON DELTA TO NEAR KING SALMON TO KODIAK
ISLAND THEN IN SOUTHWARD ARC 12Z THURSDAY.
HURRICANE FORCE WINDS AROUND SOUTH SEMICIRCLE OF STORM WILL BE
SLOWEST TO DIMINISH...WITH WINDS ALONG WEST QUADRANT ALSO VERY
SLOW TO DIMINISH. PRE-FRONTAL WINDS...HOWEVER...WILL DIMINISH
MORE RAPIDLY AS FRONT MOVES FURTHER OUT FROM CENTER.
HAVE LOOKED AT POTENTIAL FOR COASTAL FLOOD PROBLEM ALONG
SOUTHWEST COAST...HOWEVER CURRENT INDICATIONS ARE THAT EFFECTS OF
WIND AND FETCH WILL KEEP MAX SEAS TO THAT OF MEAN HIGH HIGHER
WATER.
.AFC...WATCH/WARNING SUMMARY
PUBLIC...HIGH WIND WARNING ALEUTIANS.
HIGH WIND WATCH AK PEN AND PRIBILOFS.
MARINE...HURRICANE FORCE WINDS ALEUTIANS AND SOUTH SIDE OF STORM.
STORM WEST SIDE OF STORM CENTER.
STORM TO HURRICANE FORCE WIND IN ADVANCE OF
FRONT...DIMINISHING TO ONLY STORM EARLY WEDNESDAY
THEN GALE TO LOCAL STORM THEREAFTER.
FIRE WEATHER...NONE.
D SEP 021 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A strong cold front moved through the area preceded by gusty southeast winds that were channeled by terrain.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Alaska in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Alaska, September 2002
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: 5314505.