Heavy Snow in Alaska, December 30 to 31, 2003

Name: Heavy Snow in Alaska, December 30 to 31, 2003
Start: 2003-12-30T19:46
End: 2003-12-31T12:00
Location: Alaska

December 30 to 31, 2003 · NWS AFG · 2 events in 2 counties and zones

5 inches. 0 inches on the morning of the 31st.

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.

Cold air moving from interior Alaska southward over the north slopes of the Alaska Range produced heavy snowfall, as reported at:Zone 225: Healy Observer: 9.5 inches. Snow began around 1145 AST on the 30th and reached 6 inches at 1946 AST.Zone 226: Estimated to be 6 to 8 inches due to report from State of Alaska Department of Transportation Maintenance Station at Trimms, on the Richardson Highway near Isabel Pass of 5.0 inches on the morning of the 31st. Estimated snow began at 1500 AST on the 31st and reached 6 inches around 0000 AST on the 31st.

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 Dec 30, 2:30 PM AST, 5 hours 16 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 30, 2:30 PM AST, 5 hours 16 minutes before

NORTH ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
230 PM AST TUE DEC 30 2003

.DISCUSSION...THE OLD OCCLUDED FRONT OVER THE CENTRAL ARCTIC AND
EASTERN INTERIOR IS BECOMING DIFFUSE. HOWEVER...SNOWFALL IS EXPECTED
TO CONTINUE AT LEAST INTERMITTENTLY TONIGHT AND WED MORNING.
NOT MUCH ACCUMULATION MOST AREAS...BUT ACCUMULATIONS ARE EXPECTED
TO REACH 6 INCHES OVER ZONE 225 DUE TO LOW-LEVEL UPSLOPE...AS WELL
AS THE COLD ADVECTION OVER OTHER ZONES. SNOWFALL AND WILL LIKELY BE
APPRECIABLE IN ZONES 225 AND 226 AS WELL.WINDS WILL BE SLOWER TO
DIMINISH OVER ZONE 204 THAN THEY DID FARTHER WEST (DUE TO TERRAIN
AS WELL AS THE STALLING FRONT)...BUT THE BLIZZARD IS OVER...AND
WINDS WILL DROP BELOW ADVISORY OVERNIGHT.

AS MENTIONED EARLIER...A PATTERN CHANGE IS IN THE WORKS. THE RIDGE
ALOFT BUILDING OVER THE EASTERN BERING SEA BEHIND THE LATEST LOW
PRESSURE SYSTEM IS EXPECTED TO MOVE OVER MAINLAND ALASKA ON THU.
THE NEXT LOW PRESSURE CENTER (OFF KAMCHATKA AT THIS TIME) WILL
REMAIN WEST OF 180 AS IT MOVES NORTHEAST THEN NORTHWEST OVER
RUSSIA. THOUGH ITS ASSOCIATED WEATHER FRONT WILL MOVE OVER THE
WEST COAST ON THU...IT WILL BE MAINLY ALOFT BY THEN. WE DO HOWEVER
EXPECT A LOT OF WIND FROM IT IN OVER ZONE 213 (AND WRN 214) WED
NIGHT. ON THE OTHER HAND...THE 45 OR 50 KT BOUNDARY LAYER WINDS
INDICATED BY THE AVN (THOUGH NOT THE ETA) WILL NOT LIKELY BE REALIZED
AT THE SURFACE IN THE WARM ADVECTION REGIME EXPECTED AT THAT TIME.

.AFG...WATCH/WARNING/ADVISORIES...
PUBLIC...HEAVY SNOW WARNING ZONE 205
         WIND ADVISORY ZONE 204.
MARINE...GALE AREA 11B THIS EVENING.
         GALE DEVELOPING TONIGHT AREA 14...DEVELOPING WED AREAS 9B/10B.
         BRSK WINDS DEVELOPING WED AREAS 9A...10A...11A.

DJH DEC 03

Event by event

2 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Denali

When: December 30, 7:46 PM AST to December 31, 7:42 AM AST
Where: Denali forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.

Heavy Snow, Ne. Slopes of the Ern Ak Rng

When: December 31, 12:00 AM AST to 12:00 PM AST
Where: Ne. Slopes of the Ern Ak Rng forecast zone
Reported by: DEPT OF HIGHWAYS

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

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: 5335856, 5335857.