Name: Blizzard in Alaska, December 26 to 27, 2003
Start: 2003-12-26T13:00
End: 2003-12-27T00:00
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 happened

The episode as NWS AFC wrote it up.

A strong front moved onshore along the Bering Sea coast the afternoon of the 26th. strong southeast wind combined with snow resulted in blizzard conditions across the Kuskokwim Delta for the afternoon through the evening of the 26th.

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 26, 12:00 PM AST, 1 hour earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 26, 12:00 PM AST, 1 hour before

SOUTH/SOUTHWEST ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
1200 PM AST FRI DEC 26 2003

.DISCUSSION...BOTH ETA AND GFS IN FAIR TO GOOD AGREEMENT THROUGH
THROUGH 60 HOURS OVER THE GULF OF ALASKA AND MAINLAND ALASKA AND UP
TO 48 HOURS OVER THE GULF OF ALASKA. THE MODEL BEGIN TO DIVERGE ON
THE DEPTH OF THE LOW SOUTH OF THE THE ALEUTIANS AT 60 HOURS. I PREFER
THE GFS SOLUTION BECAUSE IT AGREES WITH UKMET AND ECMWF MODELS.

THE UPPER RIDGE OVER OVER WESTERN ALASKA WILL MOVE INTO CENTRAL
ALASKA SATURDAY AND WILL MOVE TO NEAR THE ALCAN BORDER SUNDAY NIGHT.
THIS SHOULD SLOW THE WESTERN PROGRESSION OF THE SUCCESSIVE STORMS
MOVING INTO THE GULF OF ALASKA FOR THE NEXT 3 DAYS.

MOST OF EASTERN ALASKA WILL STAY MOSTLY CLEAR WITH A FEW AREAS OF LOW
STRATUS AND FOG ALONG THE COAST THROUGH TONIGHT. CLOUDS WILL MOVE
INTO THE KENAI PENINSULA SATURDAY AND SPREAD INTO THE SUSITNA VALLEY,
MATANUSKA VALLEY AND PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND SATURDAY NIGHT.

AT THE SURFACE.
A 960 MB LOW OVER THE CENTRAL BERING SEAS WILL MOVE NORTH TO THE
RUSSIAN FAR EAST AND WEAKEN TO 965 MB TONIGHT AND WILL DISSIPATE
SATURDAY NIGHT. THE FRONT OVER THE EAST BERING SEA, THE PRIBILOFS AND
THE EASTERN ALEUTIANS WILL MOVE INTO THE KUSKOKWIM DELTA COAST,
WESTERN BRISTOL BAY AND THE ALASKA PENINSULA TONIGHT AND WILL
DISSIPATE OVER THE WESTERN INTERIOR SATURDAY. SNOW AND WIND WILL
PRODUCE NEAR BLIZZARD CONDITIONS ALONG THE KUSKOKWIM DELTA COAST
TODAY AND WILL IMPROVE TONIGHT. SOME FREEZING RAIN WILL MOVE OVER THE
KUSKOKWIM DELTA TODAY AND TONIGHT. SNOW AND SOME FREEZING RAIN WILL
MOVE INTO BRISTOL BAY TONIGHT. OCCASIONAL LIGHT SNOW WILL MOVE INTO
THE KUSKOKWIM VALLEY AND KODIAK ISLAND SATURDAY.

A 974 MB LOW SOUTH OF THE KAMCHATKA PENINSULA WILL MOVE THROUGH THE
WESTERN ALEUTIANS JUST WEST OF AMCHITKA AND DEEPEN TO 967 MB TONIGHT
AND WILL MOVE NORTH INTO THE NORTHERN BERING SEA SATURDAY NIGHT AND
TO NEAR CAPE NAVARIN BY SUNDAY AFTERNOON. THE FRONTAL SYSTEM WILL
MOVE THROUGH THE WESTERN AND CENTRAL ALEUTIANS TONIGHT, THROUGH THE
PRIBILOFS SATURDAY AFTERNOON, ONTO THE SOUTHWEST COAST AND THE ALASKA
PENINSULA SATURDAY NIGHT AND WILL DISSIPATE OVER THE WESTERN INTERIOR
SUNDAY.

SNOW WILL MOVE INTO THE SOUTHERN KENAI PENINSULA SATURDAY NIGHT AND
WILL BECOME MIXED WITH RAIN SUNDAY. SNOW WILL MOVE INTO THE SUSITNA
VALLEY AND PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND SUNDAY.

.AFC...WATCH/WARNING SUMMARY
PUBLIC...NONE.
MARINE...STORM 8..12AB..13..15.
         GALE...5B..6AB.
FIRE WEATHER...NONE.

NM DEC 03

Event by event

1 blizzard. Local standard time, as filed.

Blizzard, Kuskokwim Delta

When: December 26, 1:00 PM AST to December 27, 12:00 AM AST
Where: Kuskokwim Delta forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

What these are

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 2003 Every state in 2003 This day in weather history Warnings 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: 5336619.