1 blizzard, 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 Feb 3, 9:00 PM AST, 13 hours earlier.
SOUTH/SOUTHWEST ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
900 PM AST MON FEB 3 2003
ANALYSIS AND FORECASTS...AN INTENSE LOW NOW SOUTH OF THE AK
PENINSULA AND ITS ASSOCIATED FRONT IS IMPACTING THE GULF COAST
REGION. STRONG SOUTHEAST WIND AND HEAVY PRECIPITATION ARE THE
MAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF THIS SYSTEM. THE FRONT WILL MOVE TO ALONG
THE COAST THROUGH TONIGHT AND THEN PUSH NORTH BECOMING DIFUSE
OVER WESTERN ALASKA BUT MAINTAINING A STRONG SOUTHERLY FEED OF
MOIST WARM AIR. EXPECT ANOTHER SHOT OF STRONG SOUTHEAST WIND
ACROSS SOUTH CENTRAL ALASKA. THEREFORE, ANTICIPATE A SLIGHT BREAK
IN THE PRECIPITATION AMOUNTS UNTIL AMOUNTS INTENSIFY AGAIN TUE
AFTERNOON. FREEZING LEVELS ARE AROUND 5000 TO 6000 FEET OVER THE
SOUTH CENTRAL REGION AND WILL RISE TO AROUND 2000 FT OVER THE
COPPER RIVER BASIN. THE HEAVY RAIN AND RISING FREEZING LEVELS
WILL CREATE THE POTENTIAL FOR URBAN FLOODING OVER THE EASTERN
KENAI PENINSULA.
OVER THE SOUTHWEST REGION EXPECT STRONG NORTHEAST WINDS COUPLE
WITH SNOW TO DEVELOP IN THE KUSKOKWIM DELTA LATE TUE PRODUCING A
BRIEF PERIOD OF BLIZZARD CONDITIONS FOR THE COASTAL AREAS NORTH
OF NUNIVAK ISLAND. THE ONLY HITCH HERE IS THE WARM AIR NOW IN
PLACE THAT MAY RESULT IN THE SNOW BEING WET OR MIXED WITH RAIN.
.AFC...WATCH/WARNING SUMMARY
PUBLIC...HIGH WIND WARNING ZONE 101. BLIZZARD WATCH ZONE 155
URBAN FLOOD ADVISORY ZONE 125 131 AND 135.
MARINE...SEE MARINE FORECASTS.
FIRE WEATHER...DONE.
SAM FEB 031 blizzard. Local standard time, as filed.
An intense, elongated low located over the southern tip of the Alaska Peninsula and western Bristol Bay moved over western Alaska and the Alaska Peninsula. The storm produced blizzard conditions over the Pribilofs where wind gusts reached 44 mph and visibilities w4ere mostly 1/4 mile or less in snow and blowing snow.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Alaska in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Alaska, February 2003
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: 5339452.