Alaska, 2003

Heavy Snow in Alaska, December 22, 2003

December 22, 2003 · NWS AFC · 1 event in 1 county or zone

A storm over the south central region of Alaska resulted in a continuous onshore flow over northern Prince William Sound overnight through the early evening of December 21st and 22nd. Heavy snow fell over Thompson Pass accumulating 23 inches over 8 hours from midnight to 8 am.

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 AFC wrote it up.

A storm over the south central region of Alaska resulted in a continuous onshore flow over northern Prince William Sound overnight through the early evening of December 21st and 22nd. Heavy snow fell over Thompson Pass accumulating 23 inches over 8 hours from midnight to 8 am. Snow then let up and temperatures warmed resulting in an additional 5 inches into the evening. Snow was very wet and heavy over Thompson Pass resulting in significant avalanche activity that prompted the Alaska Department of Transportation to close Thompson Pass to traffic so that they could conduct avalanche control activity until the early afternoon of the 22nd.

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 Dec 21, 9:00 PM AST, 3 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 21, 9:00 PM AST, 3 hours before
SOUTH/SOUTHWEST ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
900 PM AST SUN DEC 21 2003

.DISCUSSION...ETA STILL APPEARS TO HAVE THE BEST SOLUTION IN THE GULF
OF ALASKA AND THE AVIATION MODEL IS DOING OKAY IN THE WEST.

A 960 MB LOW NEAR MONTAGUE ISLAND WILL BECOME NEARLY STATIONARY NEAR
GIRDWOOD MONDAY MORNING AND WEAKEN TO 983 MB MONDAY NIGHT. THE LOW
WILL THEN DRIFT SOUTHEAST TO NEAR MIDDLETON ISLAND AND WEAKEN TO 988
MB TUESDAY NIGHT. THE FRONT WILL MOVE INTO THE SUSITNA VALLEY AND
COPPER RIVER BASIN TONIGHT AND WILL DISSIPATE ALONG THE ALASKA RANGE
MONDAY.

SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL IS EXPECTED TO FALL OVER PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND,
THE EASTERN KENAI PENINSULA, ANCHORAGE BOWL AND THE MATANUSKA VALLEY
BEFORE BECOMING SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS MONDAY EVENING. SNOWFALL WILL
RANGE FROM 6 TO 10 INCHES OVER THE WESTERN KENAI PENINSULA TO UP TO
16 TO 24 INCHES AT WHITTIER AND PORTAGE THROUGH MONDAY AFTERNOON.

SNOW SHOWERS WILL PERSIST THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT OVER SOUTH CENTRAL
ALASKA THEN WILL DIMINISH FROM THE WEST OVER THE KENAI PENINSULA AND
SUSITNA VALLEY THROUGH TUESDAY. COLDER AND DRIER WEATHER IS EXPECTED
IN WEDNESDAY.

STRONG WINDS AND AREAS OF BLOWING SNOW OVER KODIAK ISLAND WILL
PERSIST THROUGH TUESDAY.

A 974 MB LOW NEAR ADAK WILL SLOWLY WEAKEN THROUGH TUESDAY.

A 984 MB LOW SOUTHWEST OF THE KAMCHATKA PENINSULA WILL MOVE TO 300
MILES WEST OF ATTU AND STRENGTHEN TO 962 MB MONDAY NIGHT THEN BECOME
QUASI-STATIONARY AND WEAKEN TO 967 MB TUESDAY NIGHT. THE FRONT WILL
MOVE INTO THE WESTERN ALEUTIANS MONDAY NIGHT AND WILL MOVE INTO THE
CENTRAL ALEUTIANS TUESDAY NIGHT. RAIN, SNOW AND GUSTY WINDS WILL
SPREAD THROUGH THE WESTERN AND CENTRAL ALEUTIANS MONDAY AND TUESDAY.

.AFC...WATCH/WARNING SUMMARY
PUBLIC...NONE.
MARINE...STORM 3AC
         GALE 3B..4..12B.
FIRE WEATHER...NONE.

NM DEC 03

Event by event

1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Nern P.W. Snd

When
December 22, 12:00 AM AST to 9:40 PM AST
Where
Nern P.W. Snd forecast zone
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

What these are

Heavy Snow
Snowfall reaching the local warning threshold without the other hazards of a winter storm.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Alaska in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Alaska, December 2003

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: 5336609.